Hasn’t it been fun?  Well, it has for me, sharing fun thrift store finds and reading all of your very kind comments!  Today will be the last day, and tomorrow a day of rest from this fashion adventure. 

Can you tell whose baby Annie really is?  I love this little puppy, in spite of her, uh, inability to understand that her bathroom is OUTSIDE.  We will get it straight one day, though.

I love the dress pictured above because of the corset-type tie in the front, and there is a repeated exact tie on the back.  Oh, I do love it. 

Dress 4.00

I am closing with just one picture showing the beautiful detail of one of my current favorites, because I think beauty is in the details.  We fall in love with people as we find out their little ways and peculiarities — their details.  Much of interior design is in the details.  There are detail shops for cars.

When I go out shopping, I shop for things that make me happy and that I can make a connection with.  I also shop for functional things, obviously, because I’m buying clothes, but if I have to choose between a drab gray overcoat and a soft pink one with a pretty charm hanging from the zipper tab, guess what? 

Thank you all so much for having fun with me this week!

Today’s a work day.  It’s snowing here today.  Again.  I told Thomas spring was right around the corner.  ”Six weeks,” I said. 

“Where’d you get that idea?” he asked.

I was picturing the little groundhog and knowing that he had seen his shadow.

Thomas interrupted my beautiful thoughts and said, “You know they’re comparing this winter to only two others like it over the last 100 years.  This winter’s gonna go slam through March.”

Was he kidding?

Oh well.

PS - Tanya, just for you…

It does have a great twirl effect!

And Ginger, the skirt yesterday is 100% polyester.  I checked this morning. 

Delight in Disorder
by Robert Herrick

A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction–
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher–
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbands to flow confusedly–
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat–
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility–
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.

I asked my husband one time if he thought I was odd and he said, “You are pleasantly eccentric.”  I had a grandmother who loved hats, scarves, and leopard prints and all sorts of unusual articles of clothing.  I remember when she would come and visit, we always waited in anticipation, wondering what she would have on.  Actually, I sort of love leopard print too, but it has to be just the right thing for me to wear it.  Fair skin and freckles somehow don’t always look great in leopard print. 

I love pairing two very lacy tops together.  Having a little bit of lace show through at a collar or neckline or waist is pretty to me, though too much is, well, too much. 

The skirt has a story.  I bought this skirt probably 10 years ago secondhand.  A few years later I was cleaning out to donate some things to a yard sale and my mother saw that skirt in the bag.  She knew I had really loved it and would probably miss it one day, so she pulled it out without telling me and put it up.  She pulled it out again about two years ago and said, “Remember this?”  It was like finding that skirt all over again.  I thanked her for saving this pretty skirt for me.  It’s got two layers to it, has a beautiful floral print and hangs oh so pretty.

Brown lace top – $3.00
Lacy under-layer shirt – $3.00
Twirly skirt – $3.00
Black tights – $1.00
Sam and Libby boots – $5.00

Apron?  The first one I ever made, about 25 years ago, out of fabric bought really cheap at a textile factory I was working at.

Have a beautiful Friday.  Here’s to a job at home, hot tea, and God’s beautiful creation just on the other side of the window pane.

Oh, the week is flying by!  Tomorrow I’ll be at my work desk, but we won’t think of that today!  No.

What we will think about is making the most of each day.  As I post this fun and sort of frivolous week of fashion, I am not unaware that there is great suffering around the world, and many would love to have any new clothes right now, let alone a large selection purchased at good prices.

So, we must do what we can to help others and we must be all we can in our places.  I fully believe also in Tasha Tudor’s saying that we must “take joy.” 

I would like to thank my photographer, Michaela, for setting the camera on burst and then getting me to twirl, which I’m not very good at, by the way.  I reminded myself of one of those little twirlers in a jewelry box when the wire has gone awry and she spins off balance. 

Black velvety dress – $4.00

Black tights – $1.00

Black Wal-Mart Mary Janes – $9.00

Finally, the apron was a splurge and was $20.00, more than the rest of the outfit combined, but there’s a story behind it.  I bought it locally, it is handmade and supports someone who crafts and makes things and sells them, and I think that is worthwhile.    So there.

Besides, everyone needs a pretty apron to wear while cooking and cleaning.

Happy Thursday!

Welcome back to the fashion show!  (That was really fun saying that.)

You get to see one of my current favorite shirts and my cluttered kitchen counter all at the same time!  What a day!

Once again I am layering shirts, which is a useful thing to be able to do since I’m so cold-natured.  The skirt for the day is really shiny and crinkly.  I should have gotten a closer picture of the skirt because the hem is trimmed in lace.  It’s really pretty with black boots.  I found it in a store called Rave, in the mall, on a clearance rack for for 5 dollars.  Most things in stores like that don’t work out for me because everything, uh, doesn’t have enough fabric in it, but this skirt and one just like it in brown came home with me.

I thought this picture was worth putting in because you get to see the bright sun.  The snow looked like it had been sprinkled with bright sparkly glitter.  It was so very pretty.  Made me appreciate Snowflake Bentley all over again!

The greenish-teal shirt underneath is the one that I’m really enjoying right now.  The brand is Stamp 10.  I love how the blue in the pin brings out the blue tone in the shirt.  The black shirt I love too, because of the lace in the V neck.  It’s Chaus Organic and looked like it had never been touched when I bought it at Goodwill.

Once again, I’m covered in shawls.  The red plaid shawl was my one new shawl purchase this year.  I’ll try really hard not to buy another one until the big after-winter sales next year.

Total cost:

twirly skirt – 5.00
black shirt – 3.00
blue-green shirt – 3.00
black tights – 1.00
red shawl – 25.00

It’s time. I’ve been rattling on about sharing a week of feminine and frugal dress and today’s the day to start! This may appeal to some of you, and not at all to some or many of you. I do get e-mails from time to time, however, asking me about my choice to wear dresses. I think dresses are modest, pretty, feminine, and just plain fun!  Getting dressed in the morning should be fun!  Do pants have to always be a not-modest choice? No, I don’t think so.  I believe pants can be modest.  I have a few pairs of overalls for heavy gardening.  The bottom line is that I just feel more at peace in a dress or skirt.

The outfit above includes an oatmeal-colored corduroy skirt made by WilliSmith.  You know me, the always-sleuth.  For this post, I began to search for information about this particular label.  I honestly am not much for labels, though I do take note when I find a high-dollar item for a couple of bucks.  Anyway, in my searching I found this about Willi Smith.  Apparently he died in 1987, if that tells us how old my skirt is.  Or maybe someone continued the label with his name.   The skirt, however, remains in excellent shape and is one of my favorites.  With the cold weather we’ve been having, I paired it with a light teal blue turtleneck sweater and a 100% cotton off-white v-neck sweater.  Black tights, secondhand Sam and Libby boots, and a warm, furry cape kept me warm outside.  Of course I’d be wearing one of my pins, too!

Capes and shawls are my weakness and I rarely find what I’m looking for secondhand.  I usually buy one new one each year, after Christmas when the large department stores put them 50% or more off. 

Tights?  I also have a weakness for tights, leggings and socks, and I also shop for them during the winter’s end department store sales that go on.  I was lucky enough about four years ago to hit the Dollar Tree when they had just gotten a large shipment of very nice, black, cable-knit tights.  I think I bought about 20 pairs!  I am still using some of them!

Total cost:

turtleneck sweater 3.00
cotton sweater 3.00
skirt 3.00
tights 1.00
boots 5.00
cape 25.00 (half off)

“Why do women want to dress like men when they’re fortunate enough to be women? Why lose our femininity, which is one of our greatest charms? We get much more accomplished by being feminine than we would by flaunting around in pants and smoking. I’m very fond of men. I think they’re wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don’t want to look like one.” ~ Tasha Tudor

For more feminine and frugal dress ideas, visit Hannah’s blog, Cultivating Home.  She posted about the same topic all last week!

I feel like sometimes this place should be called Bunny Cottage.  In fact, we may start calling it that.    Four bunnies are not many compared to the amount of bunnies that some people care for, but four bunnies are a lot compared to many homes!

I wanted to invite you to see the new “rabbit inn” I’ve built over the last few weeks.  I love working with my hands — sawing and nailing, and this newest bunny cage is much more efficient than the first one I built with Princess of the Universe. 

This cage is much roomier and is at the perfect height for visiting with the bunnies and feeding them.  And if you are wondering, yes, that is the neighbor’s cat sitting atop the cage.

He goes by several names, depending on which neighborhood child you ask.  I just call him “kitty kitty.”

He may look like a mountain lion poised for an attack, but he’s really one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever known.  He plays contentedly with Annie, our beagle, and he purrs the moment he gets around anyone. 

Michaela visits with Coco’s twins, Midnight and Boomerang.

You may remember that the bunnies were in Michaela’s room for awhile, but that was only a transition for us.  My goal has always been to get them at the back of the vegetable garden.  If I am going to feed them, they may as well be fertilizing the garden. 

It just took some time to get another big cage built.  For the past couple of months they have been on our porch, Coco in a regular storebought cage with her babies, and Basil in the first cage we built.   We wanted them to be getting used to outside weather before being put all the way out at the back of the garden.

Basil’s cage has had some modifications.  We built a little box to go inside and I thought Basil would love getting in that box, but so far he loves sitting ON the box.  I guess he feels more secure, or maybe more important (?), perched up high in his cage. 

My next project?  To built another bunny cage.  Keep in mind that every piece of wood you see in the cages came from the 51 cents bargain bin at Home Depot.  Frugal bunny cages.  I love it. 

Happy Tuesday!
Lynn

I wanted to make at least two batches of this before I posted about it, but I have been making liquid handsoap at a fraction of the cost of purchasing handsoap with my weekly groceries. 

You may or may not recognize this soap called Octagon, but it has been around for a long, long time.  It is an all-purpose soap that, from all I have read, has lemon grass and olive oil in it.  It is 85 cents a bar at my local Lowe’s Foods.

To Make Liquid Handsoap:

I grated one bar of Octagon soap  (7 ounces) into a heavy pot.  I then added 8 cups of water and placed the pot on a burner at medium heat – no more than that because I don’t want the stuff to boil hard and send a lot of fumes through the house.  In fact, I don’t boil it at all.  I keep it hot enough to melt the soap and so that you can see the steam coming off of it and I use a whisk to stir it just until all pieces of soap are completely dissolved into the water.  This takes a few minutes.  The first batch I made contained only the Octagon soap and water.  In the second batch I put about 15 drops of lavender essential oil once the soap had dissolved.  From that point I leave the soap mixture on medium heat for about 25 more minutes, sirring occasionally.  I then remove the pot from heat and let it cool, continuing to stir occasionally.  It will look like it’s going to separate, but keep stirring occasionally.  Once it cools and is stirred again it turns into a thick liquid soap.  At least that’s been my experience.  I ladle the mixture, which can be a bit “stringy” through a funnel and into pump bottles.  This batch will make roughly 60 or 65 ounces of soap.  For 85 cents.  And so far so good!  The pump does not clog, the soap does not separate.  One time I had to shake a pump bottle a bit because there seemed to be an air bubble, but other than that, no problem.

A note of caution:  The reason I don’t let it boil is because of the fumes.  I think soaps (especially containing lye) and perfumes can be very irritating.  I also don’t stand over the pot constantly and breathe the fumes in, and I make sure I have plenty of ventilation.  It seems to me that working with soaps would be quite irritating for anyone with asthma or respiratory issues, so proceed at your own discretion. 

Maybe it’s just me, but is there anything more precious than a little girl in a dress with her hair put up, with soft little baby wisps hanging down around her neck?

Princess of the Universe had to read about Apollo and Daphne yesterday.  (Yes, we did revisit Ovid and Greek Mythology, in hopes that the information is retained.)  She then had to do one drawing to illustrate what happens in the story.  Poor Daphne, turned into a laurel tree!

I can assure you that none of us are great artists here – at least not yet, but it was most delightful to see Miss Priss and Big Joe comparing notes on how they sketch trees. 

Yours is better.

No, yours.

Yesterday really flew by.  How do my days off do that?  Between school work and appointments and getting supper ready, before I know it bedtime has rolled around.

But suppertime brought around a situation that I love. 

Frugality.  One of the things I love about planning menus for the week and following through with eveything is that it’s usually only one or two meals into the week before there are enough leftovers to make something like soup or a casserole and thus saving one of the planned meals for the next night.

Last night we had homemade vegetable soup with cabbage, crushed tomatoes, the leftover butter peas and pork tenderloin (finely cut up) and corn.  We spiced it up with some thyme, Italian seasoning, ground pepper and sea salt.  Then Princess of the Universe made little cornbread pancakes in the iron skillet to go with the soup.

Hubby says that cornbread pancakes are a poor man’s food, but we think they are a rich man’s food.

Actually, Miss Priss was quite domestic all day long.  I figured there were visions of dollar bills floating around in her mind, and I was right.  She washed the windows and mirrors in several rooms and then swept and mopped the kitchen floor. 

At one point she came to me explaining that she had hurt her finger.  “But, mommy,” she said, “there’s no need for you to cry.  My cleaning service does accept tips.”

I gave her a dollar and two quarters. 

We continued reading Hamlet yesterday, and finally the story is beginning to take form in our minds.  It took a couple of scenes for things to make sense, but now we are getting into it. 

We are stumbling over some of the words, but have found ourselves amazed at the richness of the language and Shakespeare’s way with words.  It’s a worthwhile project.

One last thing.  I’ve entered into a pact with my FIAR girlfriends to get on the the exercise wagon again and do my Pilates at least three times a week.  More on that later.

Lynn

I have found that homemade applesauce is very easy and unbelievably quick to make.  I love being frugal with our money and our food.  Homemade applesauce has been a way to do this lately.

I have a dear friend who yearly brings me boxes of fruit for the holiday season.  We appreciate it so very much.  Sometimes it’s so much fruit that we cannot get through it all before some of the apples start to get a bit grainy. 

I’ve come up with the perfect recipe for us to use about half a dozen apples at the time and have fresh, hot applesauce with some of our meals. 

I peel about 6 medium to large apples and then slice pieces off, placing them into a heavy pot, discarding the core.  I put enough water in the pot to cover only about 1/4 way up.  Too much water will make runny, watery applesauce.  :p

On medium-high heat, I bring the water to a boil and let the apples cook until soft and easy to chop up with a hand-held chopper.  This really only takes about 15 minutes and then you can turn the heat off and let the apples sit for a few minutes to cool down a bit.  I chop the apples up somewhat with the hand-held chopper, then add about 1/4 cup of sugar (maybe less, give or take), plenty of cinnamon (you can add to your taste), and a little bit of Smart Balance (a “butter” blend that we like, but this step is optional).

I then put the still-chunky applesauce into my blender and puree for a couple of seconds.  From there it goes into a pretty jar for our meal and for storage in the fridge if it’s not all eaten.  Rare. 

Happy Cooking!

Lynn

I’m just not willing to waste anything that’s good.  If the prices of food were not enough to make me feel this way, knowing that there are people who go hungry certainly is.

We’ve stopped making pizza regularly since we are trying to eat less cheese, but I think very occasionally, with low-fat mozzarella, it’s probably okay, especially if we can knock each other away from the table in time to not eat five or six pieces each. 

Yesterday we had some very good BBQ chicken.  It was all white meat, so I knew it would be awesome on pizza.  I had about a quart container of it left over–not enough to feed six of us as a main dish but enough to do something with.  It was really, really good chopped up and put onto homemade pizza crusts with garlic-flavored tomato sauce and freshly minced garlic.  Yum. 

NOTE:  This pizza can actually be even healthier.  Sometimes I sautee spinach leaves in olive oil with fresh garlic, just long enough to wilt them good, and we add those too.  Also, thinly sliced roma tomatoes are great!

For the dough I use a recipe from a packet of Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast.  I double the recipe and get four thin pizzas from it.  I checked out the Fleischmann website Breadworld, which is great, by the way, but I did not find this particular recipe, so I’ll share it here.

PIZZA DOUGH

• 1 envelope Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast
• 1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)
• 2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or vegetable oil (I use olive)

Soften yeast in warm water, in a mixing bowl.  Add 2 cups flour, salt and oil.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.  Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth, about 4-6 minutes.

Place in greased bowl; cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30-45 minutes.  Punch dough down.  Pat dough into a greased large pizza pan.  Top with desired toppings.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until done.

The above recipe is calling for the dough to make just one thick pizza crust.  I use the same recipe for two thin crusts, doubling the recipe to make four crusts.  I roll them out and bake them on a flat pan with toppings of choice.  It makes a FANTASTIC pizza crust.  Being thin, it doesn’t need to bake as long as stated above.

For sauce on the crust, one 8-ounce can of Hunt’s tomato sauce flavored with basil or garlic, etc. will be enough sauce for two pizzas.  This makes a really good pizza sauce that doesn’t compete too strongly with the toppings.

Lynn