Farm Play Mat

I wanted to make a travel play mat for my daughter.  She loves animals, so I created this farm play mat.   Sorry, there is no pattern.  I free-handed he actual roll using leftover fabrics from her baby quilt and a piece of Baby Gap ribbon.  The farm scene is free-handed from felt pieces that I glued on using liquid stitch. I really wanted to keep the sewing to a minimum!  The roll has three pockets to store her small plastic farm animals. The barn opens up to reveal a chicken, a stall and some carrots.

A day of baking!

I took the day off work and spent eight hours in the kitchen, kid-free!   I whipped up a double batch of King Arthur Flour Morning Glory muffins,  Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread and Jamie Oliver's Fantastic Fish pie.   What a great, productive day.  It made me happy to bake again.  

Christmas Lunches

Couple of cute holiday meals for the kids. Note the fancy, vintage plates! The gold trim plate is 1900's pre-war Germany.  The fish plate dates from the 1950's.   Yes, I let my kids eat off these plates. You cannot enjoy stuff you don't use!  

Halloween Lunch

Ok, not the best photo, but it is the only one I have. This is a little lunch I made for the kids to celebrate Halloween. Cheese on toast (cut out free-hand!) and some Scrabble Cheez-its!

Halloween Cookies

The kids and I made these cookies for Halloween. We got the idea from Family Fun. The cookies are chocolate. We used icing squeeze bottles for the icing. I think the icing could have been a bit less runny. I love the skeleton gingerbread men!

Target - August 18, 2010

Ahh..Target, how I love thee. Since the remodel of my local Target, they have been so coupon-friendly. I am not sure if it is the economy or just good management. I regularly use 35-60 coupons per visit with no complaints from the cashiers. A shout-out to Sean, my favorite cashier.

Here is my haul:

6 Tide detergents - trial size = FREE
6 first aid kits - travel size = FREE
12 packs bandaids - trial size = FREE
5 clean n clear face-washes - trial size = FREE
14 shout stain remover packets - trial size = FREE
2 packs BIC pens = FREE
4 pack easy Mac
1 can Campbell Select Harvest Soup = FREE
1 Mini loaf bread
6 bananas
1 standard bed pillow
2 eight packs Juicy Juice boxes

Total after coupons $5.58

Safeway - August 13, 2010

Clearly shopping first thing in the morning is the way to go. No kids, no other shoppers, fully stocked shelves and REALLY great customer service!

On this shopping trip, I purchased:

1 box Cheerios
1 box Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4 boxes Betty Crocker Fruit Roll-ups (for use at Halloween)
2 bags Nature Valley Nut Clusters
2 gallons milk
1 package Pillsbury Simple Pleasures brownies
1 pack Idahoan potato flakes (free coupon)
1 package (six rolls) Bright Green toilet paper
1 bottle (32 oz) Tide stain release

Total after coupons: $1.35 plus I received a coupon for $2 off my next Safeway purchase.

On future hauls, I may post the actual coupons, receipt etc. but that seems like alot of effort.