Done with Thanksgiving Here Comes..... CHRISTMAS!!

Our family ended up having Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday because I had to work Thursday morning. If Granma isn't there in the morning, just how is she supposed to make her stuffing? Tyler the youngest grand kept asking for that "awesome stuff" meaning my stuffing, I took that as a compliment.

It's going to be a slim Christmas so I'm trying to come up with some big ideas for just a little money. Hours have finally picked up at work but I have some serious catching up to do. The good part is we are just now starting to run out of some of the groceries I stock piled when they were on sale last summer. Which is the point of course. Your stock pile can see you through the slim times.

 I did hats and scarves a couple years ago for everyone on my list and everyone still has theirs and I don't want to do it again. The grands still have the blankets I made them for one Christmas so that's out. I don't have time for anything big. Come on Deb, you have a room full of yarn and craft supplies you should be able to think of something.

Oh well, I will but when I do will I have time to finish them before Christmas??

Wow, what a Haul!!

Look at all this awesome lace I got at one of my favorite resale shops. I've known the owner for years and not only is she a great person but she gave me a great deal. I got such a good deal that I'm passing the savings on to my buyers at my Etsy shop. If your in the market for lace for your crafting or sewing I'm sure there's something there you'll like. I haven't listed it all yet, but I'm working on it! Visit my Etsy shop here.

In other news, unemployed, college graduate son is going to become college kid again. He's been accepted into a post grad teaching program and will be starting back in January. It feels good to have a college kid again, especially since I won't have to start paying his student loans, at least not yet.

The oldest grand has started acting like the teenager he is. Suddenly, his friends (and girls) are more important than spending time with family. It's all in the nature of growing up, so Granma has to learn not to be hurt when he doesn't want to do something with her.

Other than that I'm just getting by, life and the bargain hunting goes on.

Good Grief!!! It's After Labor Day

   I just realized how long it's been since I posted anything on this blog.I had pictures taken of my son's college graduation and of our Memorial Day picnic. But I never got around to posting them. Then my camera mysteriously disappeared from my car and reappeared two weeks later. It hasn't worked right since.  I miss it terribly, my cell phone just doesn't take pictures that good.

    It's been a very long, hot summer here in Missouri. The Graduate hasn't been able to find a job and has moved back in with mom (me). Hours are down at work, too, so I decided it was time to do something I've been thinking about doing for a long time.  I've opened a shop on Etsy to sell my extra craft supplies. I've always done my crafting for charity and I don't want to change that, but with The Graduate moving in, I just don't have the space to store it anyway.

Somehow he managed to shove most of what I had in my craft room (now his bedroom)  into MY closet and the rest of it is scattered around the apartment. It's going to be awhile before I find everything I want to sell.

I'm also continuing to go to yard sales, thrift shops and auctions to find yet more stuff so let me know what kind of craft supplies you are looking for and I'll keep an eye out!!

You can visit my Etsy shop here and see what I have so far.

The Horrible Orange Trench Coat

As many of you know I do a lot of crafting for various charities. Friday I stopped at a local nursing home and asked what they needed. One of the things she mentioned was activity aprons for their dementia patients. These are aprons with various things to fiddle with like buttons, zippers, laces and anything else that might keep their hands busy

I went out shopping for supplies for them Saturday. Found some just right zippers (short with a large pull), some fringe, lace and denim for the apron itself at a craft supply resale shop. Then I stopped at a regular resale shop and found a bead garland with lots of kitty cat wooden beads for only a dollar. Also stopped at a yard sale and found this horrible orange trenchcoat but the big orange buttons will be perfect and I only paid 10¢ for it! I'm having fun just doing the shopping, can't wait to start working on them.

If your local (or wouldn't mind shipping them) and have anything I might be able to use for these I would appreciate any donations. If you do any crafts see the list on Deb's Crafts of things the nursing home and hospice need.

I'm off to St Louis for a couple days again. It's a lot of back and forth for my job but I don't mind too much most of the time. I've made a lot of friends down there and this gives me a chance to visit. Hope you all have a good day.

Today is Yo Yo Day

I didn't know that until this morning. In one of my online charity crafting groups that I just rejoined every 11th of the month is set aside for making Yo Yos, small crocheted circles. These are then joined together to make blankets to be sent to New York charities in honor of Sept. 11. So I made 11 of them this morning. If you want to learn more about charity crafting (and free crochet patterns) check out Deb's Crafts: Handicrafts for Charity for more information and to see some of the projects I've worked on.

I've been entering and blogging about lots of contests for groceries and craft items. Check out my contest blogs for all the listings.

The Sunday paper didn't have very many coupons I could use this morning so I only bought the one. When it has a lot I sometimes buy up to 6 papers. Our Krogers only accepts 3 like coupons so I try to keep it in multiples of three. I did go shopping yesterday and saved 48% off my order. Wasn't much on sale that I needed but it's still good to save what you can.

I'm a great believer in stocking up when things are on sale so I often stock up when a sale and a coupon makes something really cheap. I now have 5 loaves of Healthy Life 100% Whole Grain Bread in my daughters freezer ($1.39 on sale - 35¢ coupon doubled for an end price of 69¢ a loaf. This is of course not the only thing but it's just an example. How often do you find 100% whole grain bread for 69¢? I usually use a loaf of bread a week so this is 6 (counting the one I'm using now) weeks worth of bread. If you do this often enough you will eventually find that except for perishables you won't "need" anything.

Yard sales are starting around here so my Saturdays will be busier again. I've already seen a couple signs but wasn't able to stop. Next week I'll set aside some time for it.

Signs of Spring at Last

Aren't they pretty? I've been watching this little patch of daffodils since it first poked it's little green leaves out. It's right behind my office. I got off a bit early today so I stopped at the fruit and veggie stand to get some green grapes. They were more expensive than the ones I saw at Wally World so I passed on them but they had some red leaf lettuce plants so I bought them and planted them in one of my patio planters. I tried to start lettuce from seed last year and it didn't work too well so we'll see how it goes.

Wow, it's been a busy week or so, I've been in St Louis a lot. Which means I haven't had a lot of computer time. My son is on his PC most of the time I'm there and I hate using his laptop.

Finally went shopping last night and Kroger's has Kraft cheese on sale. Woohoo, I use a lot of cheese and I stocked up. Final price between sale and coupon was $1.17 for the 8 oz bag of shredded cheese. I think I'm going back tomorrow, they limit the amount of coupons you can use so sometimes when the sales really a good one I'll make a couple trips. Our Kroger is not that far from where I live so it's really not a big deal. They had some other good bargains but I didn't really have the time or money (today's payday) to do much shopping last night.

I've finished a couple of blankets for Project Linus. They give handmade blankets to children in our local hospitals. I love making these and you can see them and find out more by going to my Deb's Crafts blog.

I've also been posting a bunch of contests on my two contest blogs, one lists crafty contests and the other one lists food giveaways. Check them out if you like to enter contests!