Miniature Garden

I have been collecting things to make a miniature (fairy garden) for awhile and finally decided to put it together. Hopefully I can post the pictures correctly so that you see what I started with first and the final product last. The container was purchased at Lowe's and the things I collected from the craft store, some from Ebay and some from thrift stores. I think it turned out really cute and I have stuff left over to make another one in the future.

Winner!!!!

The winner of the vintage angel fabric pincushion is Laura P. of Ohio. Congratulations Laura, your prize will be on the way to you shortly!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!!!

I'm so excited to be doing a few giveaways this holiday season. Since I am going with the theme "My Favorite Things" I thought I would start with one of the simple pleasures. I know a lot of you bloggers out there like to sew and do crafts etc. Recently I was putting together a sewing box for myself and needed a pincushion. I came across this wonderful seller on Ebay (Bluebird*Mountain). Sooo, for my giveaway I am giving to one lucky winner one of her great pincushions. A lot of them are made with vintage fabrics and buttons and this adorable angel fabric one is no exception. I will choose the winner on Sunday at noon. Simply respond to this post and pick a number between 1 and 100, and also a number between 1 and 1,000 (in the event I get over 100 entries). I have my numbers written down already and the winner will be the person who comes closest without going over. Also, leave a way for me to get ahold of you in case you are the winner. Good luck, and please tell everyone you know in blog land.. I will be doing more of my favorite things givewaways over the next couple of weeks. Oh, and a big thank you to Janice at Bluebird*Mountain on Ebay for making these wonderful pincushions. Note: Prize will be shipped directly to winner from Bluebird*Mountain.

Lost Maples State Park

Took a day trip to Lost Maples State Park. It is located in Vanderpool, Texas, or about 90 miles from where I am in San Antonio. According to the website the leaves changing are about at peak season and if you go on weekends you can expect a 21/2 to 3 hr. wait just to get into the park! Yikes!!! I managed to get a few pictures and have a little picnic. I know some of you in the big leaf changing states this won't seem like much, but this is good fall color for us here in Texas!

Birthday Surprises!!!

It's my birthday this month and I had signed up for a site called birthdayregister.com (sorry, but I think it's local to San Antonio. Well, since they start sending out gift certificates early in the month I got 3 today! What great surprises too.. 2 free passes to the movies, a $10 gc to Zios Italian kitchen, and $10 to a Mexican restaurant. If it is anything like last year I will probably get tons more before the month is over. Anyone in the San Antonio area make sure you sign up and you can customize what type of certificates you want. These are all no purchase necessary, or no minimum purchase necessary. Oh, and I almost forgot.. I get my nieces pajamas every year for Christmas and at Disney.com the deal of the day is character pajamas for $5 each, regular price $16.50. What a great day!

Blog Contest Winner

The winner of the $25 Piperlime gift certificate is Tracey C. Tracey has a great blog full of money saving ideas, so check it out if you get a chance http://www.frugalchallenge2009.blogspot.com

Sorry I wasn't better organized for this giveaway. It was a last minute decision, but I am happy that someone will get good use out of the gc. Anyways, check back for my next giveaway sometime later this month. It's my birthday month so as a present to myself I'm going to give away a couple of my favorite things (not my own actual things, but new ones of things that I really like). Good luck to all. I'll be providing a sneek peek sometime soon of some of my favorite things that I use almost everyday!

Thrift store finds and an early Christmas gift

Yesterday I went to the Goodwill store that is right down the street. They usually have some cute things. I found a vintage beaded purse (black with embroidered flowers on the front) it is in very good shape, a Mickey Mouse cookbook. This is plastic spiral bound and probably from the 70's with recipes from different disney restaurants, in very good shape. Funny thing about this is that before I could pay for it some guy had offered me $5 and the Goodwill price was $1.99. I think this will be a fun one to look through so I hung onto it. I also found a tile trivel with a rooster. One of my kitchen walls is done in roosters so this will be a nice edition. It is red and white and seems to have been hand made in San Francisco. I don't like posting without photos, but I'll get on that either today or tomorrow and have some photos available. For anyone with a Goodwill if you are looking for sweaters, this is a great place. I found a red cashmere that seemed vintage in great shape but it did not fit too well if I wanted to button it so I put it back for someone else, but I saw plenty of vintage, some landsend pure wool, silk, cashmere, beautiful sweaters! I'll keep looking and since I have plenty of sweaters already I can be picky and wait for something that really jumps out at me.

Now on to a Christmas problem.. I was ordering some things for my little niece for Christmas and came across a great deal online. At Piperlime.com they have adorable baby shoes and the Robeez (sorry if that is spelled wrong) are about $29.99 a pair. For their 3rd birthday (the site) offered a $25 gift certificate for anyone placing an order that day. Seemed like a win/win as I was going to order some cute little shoes anyways. I'm always trying to think of things I can do for others, so I would like to give the gift certificate code to someone who can really use it. Money is tight for a lot of people and this might help solve a problem for someone. Check out the site and tell me why and how you can use the gift code. It won't make the shoes free, but they will be very, very close! I'll pick someone at random.

Bungalow Hunting and other stuff

Since moving to San Antonio I have been pretty happy where I am. The complex I live in is beautiful and there is plenty of room inside. Recently I have been thinking about having a house again and I would LOVE to have a cute little bungalow. I do not miss trying to keep up repairs on a home like I did in Houston or worry about things breaking, but a little tiny house would be great. There are plenty of older neighborhoods here in San Antonio and lots of these types of houses available. Now all I have to do is come up with some kind of plan to pay for it. I have a goal, 2 years to find a way to make it happen! I've been looking at pictures and thought I would post one of the type of little house I am looking for.

Thrift store finds: Today at the thrift store I found some straight pins for the pin cushin I got on etsy.com. Since I purchased some last week at the fabric store, I know that the .10 I paid at the thrift store for the ones with little pearl balls on the end is a great deal. Now to get the sewing box organized and start working on some projects. Oh, I also found a package of vintage yarn needles for .10.

More Christmas shopping today. Found some cute little outfits for my niece and picked up a couple other things (sorry Laura, but I HATE shopping in December!). My budget this year is very limited so I'm having to be much more careful about planning what I will give to everyone and since I'm not in a hurry it's really been a lot of fun.

Friday I am making a turkey dinner. There were some huge birds at HEB this week and with the price less than ground beef I couldn't refuse. Wish us all luck this week as I am making ossobucco on Wednesday with beef shank from the farmer's market. I've never made this before but I've heard it's delicious.

The only other exciting thing is that in my pursuit of free or nearly free activities I finally went and got a library card, and there is a library branch right around the corner from me, yeah! Oh, and I got the dr. to give me a temporary disability placard so it will make getting around much easier for now!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas on the bungalow or if anyone has purchased one that was in not so great shape and rehabed it, or made ossobucco before :-) More updates later.

Something for the miniature garden

After my original post, it made me want to get started even more. I won't be going and looking for the container today (we are supposed to get a lot of rain) so I purchased a little wheelbarrel that I was watching on Ebay. It is too cute and I know it will look great in the miniature garden. I may go back and purchase a couple mini gazing balls with pedestals that I am watching also, but I'll save that post for another day.

Starting a fairy or gnome garden

I saw something interesting on this cute little blog the other day http://www.cozylittlehouse.blogspot.com/ about fairy gardens. It seemed like such a cute idea, and the planning and gathering of stuff for it might be almost as fun as the finished product. Since I'm not big on fairies, I will probably use little gnomes (I am watching some on Ebay along with some other mini garden accessories), but I will also scour the thrift stores where I have previous had luck in finding miniatures for the patio plants.

I also came up with the idea of making a fun one. I have some lego mini sets (pirate ones) that I have been collecting, so I may make another one and use them in it. Anything that you want to do in miniature would be cute for one of these little gardens and you can change or add things as you come across them.

I'm going to post regular updates leading up to putting it together and the final product althoug I may be a few weeks away from the finished product.

I'm adding a picture of an especially cute one.

Wedding plans

For some reason I found myself volunteering to plan my daughter's wedding (translation, paying for it). Anyone that needs to do a great wedding on a reasonable budget there are lots and lots of resources to help. First, I would recommend going to http://www.theknot.com/ this site will give you tons of ideas and then you can find less expensive ways to use them. I will post more pics after the wedding, but I have a few of the wedding site to share. I recommend finding the location before you make any other plans. When I first learned about the little church in La Villita on the Riverwalk I thought it would be WAY out of my price range and booked for years in advance. Surprisingly, it was neither. For $700 I was able to book the church in August for an October wedding. You will see how beautiful from the pictures. Another one of my cheap tips is to go to your local grocery store for flowers (I can almost see David Tutera crawling on the floor in agony at the suggestion, but hey...he did not come to save me and move the wedding to the Plaza Hotel). For $285 I got all flowers needed for the wedding, and the woman in charge of the floral dept. is a professional florist and not just a clerk. I limited my daughter to 50 guests, and the reception is going to be held at their favorite mexican restaurant. There are many benefits to not having a traditonal wedding reception, but the cost savings was a major one for me. A dinner for 50 people, wedding cake, champagne toast and tip (tablecloths and a few table decorations) cost approximately $1200. The tip was included in this, but I believe in being generous to people that work hard and will tip extra at the end of the night if the table is not neglected. I'd be more than happy to share more of my tips with anyone that is interested (just drop me an e-mail) and I did splurge on a few things such as paying all expenses for the wedding party, limo, and honeymoon to Hawaii. The grand total was still under 10k . Considering how fast that money went I can see how weddings get out of hand, but when the envelope was empty, it was empty. Enjoy the pics of the little church and watch for wedding photos in the near future.

Something new to share

Ok, don't go into shock because there is a new post :-) I recently went to the Witte Museum here in San Antonio and really enjoyed this display of gowns and tiaras that were worn by former fiesta queens (or is it princesses?). Thought I'd share a few of the pics.. some of these gowns are so elaborate and look heavy and I can't imagine anyone wanting to wear them in Texas. Enjoy the pics.

San Antonio Botanical Garden

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I have posted.... (I'm so ashamed!). Since I don't have much to write about right now, I'm going to post a few photos from a recent visit to the San Antonio Botanical gardens..I can't wait to go back when it cools off outside.

Beautiful Scenery

Since I have been kind of busy with homework I did not want to get out of the habit of posting. If you come to San Antonio and you love historic places, you definitely need to see the missions. I'm posting a couple of pics from a recent trip to see them. The missions are all in the same general area, so if you are here (advised when it is not quite this hot), make sure you save a day to take it all in. Enjoy.

Eggplant Harvest!

I have been waiting for this day for awhile now. I found these cute little plants called Fairytale eggplants. They are a miniature version of eggplant and can be harvested when the eggplants get to about 4 inches long. My plants are FULL, and several are ready to pick. Since I only have patios I'm restricted to container gardening for the most part and these fit in perfectly. I am predicting vegetable kabobs, and some Tilapia and eggplant curry in my future. Another benefit of these is that they are supposed to not have that bitter taste that eggplants can get. Enjoy the pics.

Stuffed Poblanos

Thursday I went to the Farmer's market and one of the vendors had some nice baskets of poblano peppers. These are great stuffed, so I decided instead of making traditional stuffed peppers w/bell peppers, I would use a basket of these. I made the filling the same and split the poblanos open (took out the seeds and ribs) and filled with the meat mixture. They were SO good! I'm going to add my filling recipe here just in case anyone is interested.

1 lb. lean ground beef

10 poblano peppers (you do not need to remove the stem end)

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup of prepared white rice

15 oz. and 8oz. cans of tomato sauce

1 t. chopped garlic

salt and pepper to taste.

Clean the poblanos and split open on one side (careful not to cut all the way through). Remove seeds and ribs. Stuff the poblanos with the prepared meat mixture and place in a baking dish. Pour the 8oz. can of tomato sauce over the stuffed peppers (add 15oz can when combining meat and other ingredients). Bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. I made this dish ahead of time and baked it when I was ready for dinner. I served it with roasted red potatoes (also from the farmer's market) coated in olive oil (salt and pepper) and with about 6 whole cloves of garlic. This cooked for the same amount of time as the peppers and came out delicious. Some slices of nice ripe tomato finished the meal (you guessed it, these were also from the farmer's market).

Save your money!

This post is not going to be how I initially imagined it. Last Thursday I went to the Ringling Bros. Circus that came to San Antonio for the week. Now, I have only been to the circus one other time in my life and I thought it would be something different and fun. Wow! When did the circus become a bad musical? The ringmaster sang throughout the whole thing and the acts were less than impressive. Apparently there are 2 different circuses now.. a red and a blue one. I don't know how this works and after what I saw I don't really care to know. I was watching the reaction of kids around me and most of them were kind of stunned and not really sure what to think. The theme appeared to be "over the top." This is one thing they definitely accomplished. At the beginning everyone came out and there were lights and singing and all kinds of activity and then it was just blah. Sorry for anyone that went and actually enjoyed it. One thing I did like was the motorcycles in the steel ball shaped cage. For an arena the size of the Alamodome they only utilized about a 1/4 of it, so there were obviously not going to be any high wire aerials, and only one entrance was open which made for big crowds getting in. For those who went with kids it must have been like an obstacle course trying to get past all the vendors with the twirly flashing lighted thingy's, and the stuffed animals. Someone told me the lighted twirly things were $25, and a snow cone in a clown mug was $9, and a program was $14. So, if the circus hasn't reached your part of the country yet and you are considering going, please do a little research and make sure that it will be worth the expense to your family....

The Farmer's Market and maybe some salsa

Last Saturday I went to the farmer's market (located behind the Pearl Brewery on the Riverwalk). As you might be able to tell from the picture, there are lots of vendors and there is live music and food, and you can even buy an orchid or some Texas meat. This particular market is held every Saturday, so if you are in the area and looking for some local grown veggies give it a try. I will post soon my attempt to make salsa. I bought a couple of baskets of tomatoes and I grow my own cilatro and jalapenos, and I have lots of onions from the last time I went. The farmer's market is held every day in a different part of the city, so if you miss it one day you can find one the next. You might be wondering what looked good.. I got lots of zucchini, some yellow squash and of course the tomatoes. There are still a few peaches here and there but I don't think they look that good this year. Wish me luck on the salsa....

Gone Fishing?

Well, I haven't exactly gone fishing. This picture was taken in an area of the newly expanded Riverwalk. These Sunfish light up at night as they are suspended from the overpass. If you come to see the Riverwalk, make sure you check out the expansion area near the Pearl Brewery and come at dusk (or dark) to see the sunfish lit up. An extra bonus (depending on how you look at it) is that if you come at dusk you can see all the bats come out from under the bridge. I didn't exactly count, but I'm sure there were hundreds of them. It also explained why there were so many people down there and since the fish were not a new novelty anymore. I've been to Austin and seen the bats under the Congress Ave. bridge, and while this doesn't compare it is still an interesting attraction. Also, with the traffic overhead there are some unusual echoes that make it sound like angry spirits live under the bridge. It is just one of those things you have to see...and hear for yourself when you visit. Oh, and the pic was taken at night so excuse me if it's a little blurry.

Free Coupons!

Sometimes it is so much fun to see what will come in the mail. The bills are a given, but there was a nice surprise today from Central Market (HEB). This store is not in my area, but I did stop in there one day when going to the zoo. I'm guessing they got this info. from my debit card and put me on a mailing list. (3) great value coupons. One for a free rotisserie chicken, one $10 off produce ($40 purchase required) and one $10 off my purchase ($40 purchase required). It doesn't bother me that I have to purchase other things to get the $10 off since the store isn't that far away. I think I'll use the rotisserie chicken coupon next weekend and since I'll be in that area go have a picnic at the Japanese gardens, which I was surprised to find out have free (love that word) admission!

Plants and other stuff

Well, it happened. I found out that people quickly lose interest in your blog when you haven't updated it in like 5 years. Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but it seems like 5 years. There was a nice surprise waiting for me when I went on my patio yesterday to check on my plants. My little baby strawberry has about 20 little berries forming on it, so I am hopeful for a decent harvest!(enjoy the pic) Btw, anyone that does container gardening, Miracle Grow does help. The lettuce plant was at the end of production so I cut it all back. If it doesn't produce again I'll get some new plants. I am waiting for dill plants to go on sale so I can grow some of that.

When I think about plants and the weather gets nice, I start thinking about Easter. Has anyone ever done an easter basket exchange? Maybe it's a little too late in the game for this year, but if anyone is interested, drop me a line.

Mail has been kind of exciting this week. I got a coupon for a free Digiornio pizza from a mail in rebate offer, a $20 rebate from some new tires I purchased for my Scion TC, a $5 Starbucks gift card for doing about a 30 second survey for Beazer homes, and some rebate forms from trades that I made. This is the first time that I've really gotten into rebates, and I kind of like getting little checks in the mail. I'll try and post a mail review every week.

Found coin challenge update: This is almost funny. Normally I find coins all over the ground adding up to a dollar or more a week, but since I posed this challenge almost a month ago on the Frugal Challenge boards I have literally only found 2 cents. lol.. I actually went out and bought a new piggy for this.. HE'S HUNGRY! I hope all the rest of you out there are having better luck on your treasure hunts. Hey, one place I did see as good coin picking potential has me a little stumped. I was at Seaworld last week and in the game room area there are wood floors with little slats in them. If you look in the cracks there are quarters, tokens and lots of other treasure in there. I didn't think it would be appropriate for me to spend 5 hours on the floor with a pair of tweezers, so I'll stick with looking down when I'm in a parking lot.

Part of stretching myself to my frugal limits has been to find new ways to entertain myself that don't involve going out and spending money (at least as little as possible). I'm dragging out my box of craft items and have been working on some coin purses. I'll try and post a pic as soon as I get one completed. I have also decided to teach myself how to knit. Some of the yarns you can get now are SO beautiful (I bought a skein of burgandy chenille yarn) and am trying to make an afghan. This should be good for a few laughs as soon as the shape forms something identifiable.

Well, this is what's been happening this week. I've been enjoying checking out some other blogs, and I'm still trying to come up with a great idea for a giveaway (It will definitely happen before Easter). Have a great day everyone and please stop by again.