Case Lot Sales!

You know one thing I really LOVE about Utah?

Case lot sales!!

This is WAY easier than bringing home individual cans for food storage. And we got lots of good deals. I was so giddy as I placed these in our food storage closet!

Check This Out

My new Costco find.

Our garbage can broke a couple weeks ago. It's one of those ones with the lever her step on with your foot to open the lid. After a couple weeks with it broken, we got tired of lifting up the lid ourselves (boo hoo, I know - life is hard). I wasn't too thrilled to spend 50+ bucks on a dumb garbage can. Many of the ones I remembered seeing when I've noticed prices of garbage cans were around $60 - for the "step on - lid lifter" kinds.

Well check out this sleek and snazzy contraption I found at Costco.

Not only is it pretty and the brushed nickel stays clean and doesn't attract fingerprints like some metal kitchen appliances, but it also has a battery operated motion sensor in the lid! You just wave your hand in front and WA-LA - the lid says opens up and says, "what can I take from you to ease your burdens today?" Okay it doesn't really say that. The only funny thing is that it also opens when you walk by, but I don't mind. I kind of feel like it's the garbage's way of saying "hello" to me. It's my new friend in the kitchen and I never thought I'd be so excited about a garbage can! It also has a snazzy way of concealing the bag to keep it looking sleek. AND it is much bigger than our other garbage can so I don't have to take the trash out every 2 days anymore! And the best part is that it was a pretty good deal for such a "fancy" thing - AND it came with a 2nd handy dandy motion sensor garbage in junior size.

Who knew throwing away garbage could be so fun?

The preschool kids this week went bananas over the garbage can. They were happy to throw away their own plates and cups this week.

Yesterday...

Yesterday, while I did this (see explanation below) . . .
Angela did this! What a cutie!
Natalie joined her when she got home from school. . .

I love when the girls find good things to keep themselves busy while I am doing nutty things like trying to can butter. Ever heard of it? Well after canning 10 jars, I found out it is not really recommended, so don't do it. (o:

I got the idea from a food storage book. When I was having trouble and none of the jars were popping/sealing, I decided to send out a call for help. I wrote an e-mail to a girl who runs a really great website with recipes, tips and ideas for food storage. (The title of this post is linked to it) I asked if I was doing everything right. She was great and responded very quickly. She sent me a link to an article that gave some reasons why it's not recommended. Mainly because the "canning" method you use for it doesn't get hot enough to kill any potential bacteria.

For those of you who are wondering why in the heck I was trying to can butter and aren't familiar with food storage - here's the reason. Our church leaders really encourage families to gather food storage for "a rainy day". That way when weather events, natural disasters, job loss and other unpredictable events happen in our lives, we can take care of our families and have food ready. I have loved working on getting our several months supply of food. It was awesome when the snowstorm happened in December. We did have to eventually run to the store to get milk (but we have dried milk for a bigger emergency - I'm just not a big fan of the stuff) but we never had to worry about running out of food. I walked out to our shelves in the garage and always had what we needed for meals.

So anyway, I got to thinking that it would be nice to have butter on hand, but you can only keep so much in the fridge. When I saw the idea I thought it would be a nice addition to our food storage. Oh well! Crystal recommended keeping Crisco on hand and there are also some forms of powdered butter you can get, FYI.

Like a Kid in a Candy Store...

A few weeks ago Aaron Brother's Frame store was having a clearance sale. 75% off all their inventory! They were closing the location nearby and wanted to get rid of everything. I went three times during the sale. I couldn't get enough. There are so many things I've been waiting to hang up because I needed frames! I bought the three matching frames above and the prints inside them for less than $30! The frames are quite large - I don't know if you can tell. I was happy with the great deal I got. Ned* and I have always wanted to use our big entryway walls to make an art display. We've had the other two paintings for a while and were excited to add a few more to our collection.
These pictures have been waiting for nice frames for YEARS! I could never find the right frame for the right price. I love how these turned out. These are sketches by our good family friend Peggy - she is like an aunt to me. She is a great artist and gave me these beautiful cards years ago. I always thought they were too pretty to use and wanted to frame them for our lighthouse themed bathroom. They really make the bathroom look extra nice. Thanks Peggy!

I have a bazillion more frames to fill with pictures and prints. I have a few already with things in them waiting to be hung. I'll post more when I get things up.

The only sad part of the story is that I found out later that the store eventually put everything on sale for 90% off!!!! Wow - I guess it's good I didn't know - I would have bought more frames than I could ever hope to use. I LOVE frames!! I am grateful to have found some really screaming deals! Thanks to Shannan for giving me the heads up. (o:

Is it REALLY necessary?

I wish food were just for recreation and not a necessity. I could save so much time if my family did not have to eat three times (sometimes 4-5) a day! Why does life need to revolve around creating menus, grocery shopping, preparing, storing, cooking, eating (this part takes a particularly long time for my girls) and cleaning up the whole mess? By the time you're done with one meal, it's on to the next. I could get so much more done if we could just have food be for recreation. I love to eat, so I would make time for this hobby, but three times a day? What else (besides going to the bathroom!) do we do that many times a day? Geesh! I am jealous of people who actually like to cook - then maybe I wouldn't dread it so much when 4:00 hits each day. Well, I better go figure out what I'm making for dinner...