Frugal Friday! Week of February 18-24, 2018

Hi Everyone!

I'm back!  At least this week I am back!  Sorry to miss several weeks there.  My daughter had a music festival to attend a few weeks back, so I missed posting a Frugal Friday due to that, and even though I have been back for weeks now life keeps me SO busy!

There is no way I can keep up posting every single week without missing--but I do enjoy posting whenever I do have a chance to and I hope you will also share with me what you are doing to save money in your family budget, because I am always looking for new ideas on how to save!

This week, we have had some GLORIOUS Spring weather!  Only problem is it is not exactly spring yet, so I am quite sure it won't be lasting--but I am sure going to enjoy it while I can before a cold spell comes back! :)  Anyway, with the nice weather my daughter has been trying on her summer clothes to see what still fits her as she is definitely still growing (Size 9 feet! She is taking after me, because I wear shoes size 9 1/2 and 10's!).  So I have been hearing from her about how she has outgrown a lot of her summer bottoms, and that she would REALLY like to have some play skirts--meaning some skirts for every day wear, not a fancy one for church.

Well, we have spent the last two weeks shopping for clothes here, there, and everywhere.  I even got brave and ventured into the mall--I am NOT really a mall shopper, hate the crowds and soon feel overwhelmed with all the STUFF everywhere!  But even in the mall we didn't find anything for her (though I did find a great clearance top for me for $4.39 thanks to Belk!).  So last week I decided to try a local thrift shop.  I knew we wouldn't find anything that would fit her exactly, but I was hoping we might possibly find a large women's Hawaiian muumuu that we could cut smaller.  You know--something large with a lot of fabric in it.  But as frequently happens when thrift shopping, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted--but we DID find a Hawaiian mini skirt that we both liked!  It was just--too short.  We loved what was there--there just wasn't enough of it to love!  I carried it around for awhile as we continued to search, because as they say, a mini in the hand is worth two muumuus in the bush! But it was the only Hawaiian type thing we could come up with.  So while debating if I should just put it back, I had an idea. . .

Maybe, just maybe, we could lengthen it.  I am NOT an experienced seamstress by any means.  I can do a few things here and there, but I know my limitations so I wasn't sure I could do this, especially since there was a pleat in the front of the skirt.  BUT--this thrift shop only charges .75 cents for the clothes it sells, and the money is all used to help people in our community, so the risk was pretty small even if I couldn't get it to work.  I told my daughter my idea, and we started searching for some fabric that would match the colors in the mini skirt.  "Fabric," meaning another garment that we could buy for .75 cents and cut up.  Finally, after much searching, we found a shirt that was just the right shade of green to match!  We could have gone with blue, but couldn't find the right shade of blue in anything so went with picking up the green color instead.

We bought both pieces, brought them home and I washed them.  The next day, I started taking the green shirt apart trying to obtain the largest fabric pieces that I could out of it.

It did have some nice green buttons on the front of it that I didn't want to throw away, so I had my daughter cut them off and add them to my button jar.  One never knows where those little green buttons may appear next!   I cut the largest piece--from the back of the shirt--in half, and then evened it up where the arm holes were.  I ended up being able to get a total of four pieces--two from the back, and then one from each front panels.  The shirt sleeves were just too small to really get a usable chunk from as far as a ruffle went, but I have saved them in my fabric stash just in case. . . I am thinking maybe some type of hair bow flower?  Not sure yet.  Will have to research a bit and see if I can find any idea that I can make with those pieces. . .

Sewing the strips together, we managed to extend the length of the skirt by around 7 inches.  I basted the top of the strips and then pulled on the basting threads to ruffle it.  It didn't come out perfect, but I think it isn't half bad.  And it passed the "teenager test," as my daughter LOVED the end result!

I am VERY happy with the result myself as well!  I had to take in the waist a bit for her as well--I added two additional darts in the back of the skirt (are they called "darts" when they are shaping the garment from the waist down?) as well as take it in a bit at the two sides.  So it is smaller in a total of four places in the waist, and longer all the way around.  I think my daughter looks adorable in it (yes, I AM biased!) and she is thrilled to have a summery, happy looking play skirt!  And I guarantee there is not another one like it back at the mall, especially for $1.50 total cost!

I would love to hear from you--what did you do this past week to save money?  And any ideas for how I can take the green shirt sleeves and make something for my daughter to wear in her hair?

~Susan

Chocolate Bites

Hi Everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Just thought I would take a quick minute to share with you a yummy AND healthy dessert that I made for my family to enjoy today.

A year ago this month, I went cold turkey giving up refined sugar.  For me, this was a test, to see if it would actually make a difference in my blood sugar since the previous time I had my blood labs done I had actually tested into the pre-diabetic range.  And let's just say, the land of diabetes is NOT a place I want to visit.  So I told myself that I was just going to give up sugar temporarily to see if it would actually make a difference.  When I had my blood work done again at the end of February, the good news is it made a HUGE difference.  The bad news is that it made a HUGE difference.  I had known for a long time that SUGAR was my addiction.  I am not saying everyone is addicted to sugar if you eat it--but for ME, it is VERY addicting.  Like, I find it hard to eat just a little bit of a sugary something.   My hubby can do this just fine--not me.  He can have a bag of candy, and just occasionally eat a piece.  His bag of candy will last him for months.  For me--an open bag is an empty bag!

SO.  That month that I gave up ALL refined sugar, I had withdrawal like something terrible.  I spent probably three solid weeks in cravings.  Every time the cravings were really strong, I ate another piece of fruit.  It wasn't WHAT I was craving, but it was something sweet and the fiber DID help fill me up.  Ever notice that when you are stuffed full you really don't have food cravings? It didn't make my cravings totally go away, but it definitely helped!

I have noticed something else about sugar and my body.  When I eat a lot of sugar, I am DEFINITELY more short-tempered with anyone who is around me.  I hate that.  That is NOT the kind of person I want to be, and I could see it very clearly.  After my "cold turkey" month, I allowed myself to occasionally eat something with sugar in it, and I could see very clearly that if I ate beyond a VERY tiny amount, I would just become irritated and I would think to myself "Why am I feeling this way?  Whatever they did really isn't that big of a deal?" And then I realized--I had eaten some sugary dessert.

ANYWAY, this is a long way to say that based on my little experiment, I realized I needed to seriously make some changes to my consumption of sugar.  Nowadays, I will occasionally allow myself a VERY small amount of refined sugar--like perhaps a tiny bit of chocolate, but I keep these times pretty rare.  I do not want to be back into my sugar addiction and then have to suffer through the cravings and withdrawal again!  Once was more than enough!

So--over the past year I have moved more and more to sweetening with dates.  Yes, I know, someone is going to tell me that dates are also a condensed sugar, and I would agree with you 100%.  Any dried fruit is a condensed fruit sugar.  But for me, eating dates or raisins do not effect me the same way that eating white or brown sugar does--I think because the dried fruit comes still having it's original fiber.  But if you are trying to lose weight, any dried fruit is still much more calorie dense than the fresh fruit, so keep that in mind.

That being said, my daughter wanted a little something special for Valentine's Day today.  I "had" been planning on making some of my Chocolate Tofu pudding--yes, it does have a small amount of refined sugar in it, but just a smidgen and I would put Valentine's Day as one of those "special occasion" types of days.  Problem is, she has come down with a sore throat this week,  so refined sugar of any amount is not going to be a help to her body fighting that sore throat.  So Chocolate Bites was my substitute recipe for something special.  The three simple ingredients were already in my house, and there is nothing in them that will keep her from getting well.  I hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Yes--I do know what these kind of look like.  If you want to make them look a bit nicer, roll them in some unsweetened coconut.  I didn't have any of the fine shredded coconut in my kitchen at the moment, having only the large type which is way too large to roll these in, so we will enjoy them this way.  Just remember what your mother taught you--if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all! ;)

Chocolate Bites
(adapted from original recipe by Nora Cooks www.noracooks.com)

1 1/2 cups walnuts
12 large dates, pitted
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
1-3 tablespoons water, as needed

In a food processor with an "S" blade, add the walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder.
Process until a sticky dough is formed, about 1-2 minutes.  You should be able to roll it into balls without the dough falling apart.  If it is still dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the dough is sticky, be careful not to add too much water.  Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place in a container.  Store in the fridge or freezer.

Hope you enjoy this healthy, chocolate treat!

~Susan

Healthy Eating--Calorie Density

Good Morning Everyone!

Sorry I have been missing for a few weeks here--life is always super busy around here, and of course taking care of my families needs is my number one priority. But I love to pop in here and share things that have been helpful to me whenever I can.  I have been blessed by what others have shared on their blogs, and I do hope that my little blog is helpful as well.

Today, I wanted to share with you a little video that explains a health concept VERY well. This is the concept of calorie density. Now I will say right here that I am not a medically trained person--so I cannot give you medical advice. I am simply sharing information that I have personally found helpful. Whatever you may choose to do with this information is between you and your own personal doctor.

I have been a vegeterian since I was a teenager, and then went vegan later when I was married and discovered I had incredibly high cholesterol in my twenties (cheese will do that to you, and cheese was my "meat"). Going vegan definately helped my cholesterol go down some, but in spite of my healthy eating I still struggled with maintaining a healthy weight. I was never in the medically obese catagory, but definitely in the overweight category. And for me, the goal is not to have some "perfect" number on a chart, but rather I want to be in good health and be able to be active so I can be a good mom to our daughter. At age 39, I was already an older mom when she was born. Add to that the fact that she is naturally a very active, high energy child, and I REALLY need to be in good health so I can keep up with her!

Anyway, so now you know some of my background story. The health concept that I learned about several years ago, which has REALLY helped me lose my excess weight is the concept of calorie density.  Being aware of calorie density has helped me make healthier food choices, and yes--along the way I have lost my excess weight. This is NOT a quick fix--it is not a magic pill that you can swallow and wake up slim and trim. It IS, however, knowledge that if put into practice can change unhealthy eating habits and help a person become the healthy size that their body frame was designed to carry.

So what exactly IS calorie density? I am glad you asked! 😉 Today in my email box I found a short video by Chef AJ which explains calorie density beautifully, so I thought I would share it with you here:

Calorie Density

Being aware of calorie density isn't going to change your weight overnight. I have been making better food choices for the past two or three years. Last calendar year, I only lost two pounds a month--no one is going to stop you at the grocery store and ask you what you did when you have lost two pounds that month! But a steady two pounds a month does mean that at the end of 2017 I weighed 24 pounds less than I had at the start of 2017. And doing this for several years now means that for me, I am finally right in the middle of a healthy weight range for my body frame. My doctor is happy--and I am happy. But most of all, I now have more energy for keeping up with my precious daughter!

Hope the video is a help to you!

"Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well." 3 John 1:2 NIV 

~Susan