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The Perfect Ham and a Thanksgiving Leftovers E-Book
Have you all finished up the holiday leftovers or are you still working on them? We still have some turkey left, but the ham disappeared quickly. I tried something different with my ham this year and it was YUMMY!
Yummy Ham Secrets Revealed:
I’ve normally purchased a spiral cut ham, just because they always came out so much better. However, they’re pretty spendy. This year I purchased a regular old, bone-in, uncooked ham. The night before our meal I put the ham in an oven bag and rubbed brown sugar liberally over the ham. You’ll want to use about a cup of brown sugar. Just leave what falls off in the bag. Then pour in a cup of regular cola. Press as much air out of the oven bag as you can and tie it closed well. Flop the ham around to drench the entire thing well in the cola/sugar mixture. I set my bag in a baking pan just to be safe in case anything leaked. Over the course of the evening, flop the ham around a couple of more times. In the morning, cut a few slits in the top of the bag and place the pan in the oven to cook as directed. (Mine required 3 hours at 325.) When the time is up, simply pull out your ham and plop it on a platter. It’s SOOO good! And you won’t even have a pan to clean up since all the mess stays in the bag.
I’ll be watching for hams to go on sale so I can grab up a few more!
If you’re looking for some new leftover recipes you might enjoy this free Holiday Leftovers E- book from Hillbilly Housewife.
Super-simple perfect ham works for me! To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.
Five Kernels of Corn ~ Give Thanks!
Years ago I heard the story of how, at one point, the Pilgrims were rationed only 5 kernels of corn a day. That year, at our Thanksgiving meal, each person found five kernels of corn by their plate. We all shared one Thanksgiving for each kernel of corn. This is a simple, yet meaningful tradition to add to your special meal.
You can find the original story here and listen to it on audio here. If you have a poet in your midst they might enjoy reciting this poem. And here is a page you can email to friends and family, to share the story with them.
We wish you all the best this Thanksgiving holiday!
Bathroom Vanity Makeover
I’ve been working all week on re-doing our bathroom. Everything needed a minimum of two coats of paint and I was working around a hectic schedule, but I finally have it mostly done. (My family is most grateful to have the bathroom back!)
I used a few tricks to help keep things frugal. I’ll share the first below. I’m heading out the door to finish my Thanksgiving shopping and will add more invo over the next few days.
The most dramatic change was probably painting the vanity. It’s a good many years old and the finish had worn off. I used the same paint I have on my lower kitchen cabinets and they have held up well, so I’m hoping for the best. I think it should be fine. I actually priced out new ones before deciding to go with the paint. They’re not cheap!
Here is the vanity before. I’ve already started painting the beadboard in this picture.
Here is a closer shot of the damage:
First, I removed the hardware and used sandpaper to lightly sand the entire cabinet, taking care to smooth down the parts with water damage. I then primed the cabinet with Kilz and followed with two coats of semi-gloss (Behr paint in Bear Rug). I believe one of the tricks to having the paint hold up well is to allow good drying time between coats. I left each coat 24 hours, at least.
Here is the finished product. I still have to do some minor touch-ups, but it made a world of difference.
A closer shot:
And the before/after shot. I think it made a pretty dramatic difference. Not bad for the price of a $25 can of paint. And yes, I use GOOD paint. Some things aren’t worth scrimping on, especially when you’re talking about painting cabinets. Stay tuned for more details.
Linking to Metamorphosis Monday, Tackle it Tuesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Show & Tell Wednesday
Tube Sock to Dog Sweater
Bella as a puppy
Our Cockapoo is a nut. She’s always been terrified of clippers and freaks out at any attempts to groom her. I’ve finally gotten her to the point that she will allow me to work on her with scissors, but she still looks pathetic. I finally bit the bullet and made an appt. with the vet to have her sedated and groomed (expensive!). Well, when I picked her up she looked like this:
Now, don’t blame the vet. They did make a point of saying she wouldn’t look like she would if she went to the groomers. Go ahead and laugh. I did! In fact, I was upstairs working on the bathroom and could tell when each family member arrived home and saw her by the screams and peals of laughter.
Yes, it’s sad. But we were facing a problem deeper than mild embarrassment (for both dog and family). We keep our home as cool as possible and this dog is now, for all practical purposes, naked. Now, I’ve always mentally ridiculed dogs that wear sweaters, but it was clear Bella needed some clothing. What to do? Remember, we live 30 miles from a Walmart or pet store and I wasn’t driving back to town for a doggie shirt.
I did consider calling one of my friends who had babies recently and asking to borrow an outgrown onesie that I might be able to make work. But then I thought about our massive sock basket. (I hope I’m not the only one who owns one of these!) I dug around and found one of hubby’s discarded tube socks. I was looking for a tube sock since it wouldn’t have a heel. I cut the toe off the sock, placed it over the dog’s head and figured out where I needed to cut arm holes. The finished product looked like this.
We were pretty impressed with how well the final product works on the dog. I think she even likes it! the cuff looks like a cute little turtleneck.
So there you go! Creativity always prevails! Right now she’s resting by the couch in a special box filled with a pillow and fleece blankie. Life is good! lol Remember:
Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without!
Linked to Thrifty Thursday, Frugal Friday, Feature Yourself Friday
Banana Math!
As a visual learner and homeschool mom, I’m always on the lookout for those learning opportunities that just happen with life. For example, my daughter’s introduction to fractions took place this morning as she was preparing breakfast. I had two bananas that had to be equally dispersed between 3 bowls. I told her to divide each banana up by 3 and then give each bowl two parts…Voila! Her brain just experienced a real-life, practical application of division and fractions; much more effective than learning it just from a textbook.
Paint Clean-up Trick
I have several projects that I was wanting to finish up before Thanksgiving, though, at this point, it’s not looking good. We have so many activities going on, I’m finding them hard to get to. I did get started on repainting the upstairs bath this weekend, however. I realized as I was putting the ceiling paint away that I always to one trick that not everyone may know about. Before I put the lid back on the paint, I take a nail and hammer holes all around the edge. This allows the paint to drip back into the can rather than drying into a big congealed mess and glueing the lid to the can. I usually use larger nails than the one in the picture, but that’s what was in the “junk drawer” this time. Anything will work, really.
Isn’t that a pretty color? It called Gulf Winds by Behr. I’ll add some photos of the bathroom re-do in coming days. Maybe that’ll help keep me moving! I’m basing the bathroom colors on the shower curtain below (Reflections from Bed, Bath & Beyond). It doesn’t look like it, but the blue matches the blue in the curtain. It’s not as powder blue as the shot below makes it look.
Back to the paint . . . you can see below where the paint is dripping from the holes into the can. Works like a charm!
Linking up to Tackle it Tuesday & Works for Me Wednesday.
Blog Video!
Check out this fun video Jennie created about the blog. One of Marillee’s daughters is the MC.
Knitted Scallop-edge Beaded Necklace
I made the above necklace this week and was amazed at how easy it was! The necklace only took about an hour and a half to knit, however, it took about another hour just to string the beads. Still, under three hours for an entire project isn’t bad at all. These look completely different depending on what colors you use. The picture above is accurate, but I used flash on the shot below so you could get a better look at the detail.
The pattern was taken from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. I found my copy at the library. In fact, I wouldn’t even have looked twice at the necklace, but the librarian was a knitter and was wearing one that she’d made. It was very pretty on. Hers was on a light pink yarn with natural, stone-looking beads.
There are a couple of tips I’d offer while making this necklace. First, though I would categorize it as “easy” it is a bit on the fussy side. It might be a bit tough for a beginning knitter. You will want to make very sure you don’t split any of your stitches and also that you watch to make sure the beads stay in place during the first row. After the first row, it’s easy-peasy.
My first tip is to put a bit of glue stick glue on the end of your yarn to make a “needle” for beading. This sped things up immensely! At first, I was just trying to wet the yarn to get it through the beads and it kept coming apart; it was taking forever. Once I glued the end, beading was a breeze.
My second tip isn’t really a tip, just an explanation for those who might not understand how the beads are added. I didn’t feel the instructions explained it well, though once you’ve done it, it’s obvious. I didn’t understand where my beads were supposed to be in relation to the stitches I cast on, and kept trying to have them on the wrong side. Since I couldn’t find ANY help on the web, I realize it could be obvious to everyone but me. However, on the off chance that’s not the case, I put together a little video showing how the beads are added. I hope this helps. (NOTE: The below video shows a new necklace I’m starting, not the one in the picture.)
I paid $2.95 for a skein of sportweight wool yarn and used just the tiniest bit of it. I purchased a vial of beads at JoAnn’s but just saw the same type at Walmart for $1.50. That makes for a pretty inexpensive gift, especially if you make several necklaces with the same yarn.
Linked to: Made by You Mondays, Made with Love Mondays & More the Merrier Mondays, Whatever Goes Wednesdays, We Did it! Wednesdays, Look What I Made Wednesday, Inspiring Creativity, Wicked Awesome Wednesday
Sometimes “Full Price” is Worth the Money!
If you’ve read my Craiglist posts, it’s no secret that I love to save money…and hate paying full price for anything. However, for this post, I’m going to completely contradict myself and shamelessly plug an item that I absolutely LOVE and in my opinion is worth the small fortune it costs… It’s a Dyson vacuum cleaner.
Through the years, I’ve probably gone through no less than 40 vacuum cleaners and can honestly say none of them worked very well. But my days of going over the same spot 10 times just to get a little speck of lint to end up in the bag, are over! After searching on Craigslist for several months, I soon realized this was one of “those items” that you will not easily find on the used market. And there is a very good reason for this….it works so well, who’d want to sell it???
Even though I had to shell out $400 for this dirt-sucking-machine, it was worth every penny!
Fixing Broken Make-up
I just have to say that I LOVE Pinterest; so many great ideas and such a neat way to organize them!
In fact, just last night I came across this tip (see photo below), which was especially timely as I’d just dropped my face powder on the floor and broken it the day before. (If you’d like to see the full tutorial, click here.) I don’t know about you, but the price of make-up makes me cringe and dropping and breaking my face-powder does NOT make me happy. Naturally, I scooped up what I could and resigned myself to smashing little powder bits onto my applicator and making use of what I could. Needless to say I was thrilled to know that there was a solution; not to mention a super-frugal one.
So last night, before bed, I put some alcohol into my powder case. It softened the powder and I mushed it around until it was somewhat flat. (OK, it’s not going to look as pretty as it did to begin with, but it’ll be usable.) Then I left the lid open and put it in the medicine cabinet to dry overnight. This morning, my compact looked like the photo and is perfectly functional. Yay! Apparently, this fix works for all powder make-up: blush, powder, eyeshadow, etc.
Oh! And if you’d like a Pinterest invite, just leave your email in the comments or email me (denalwood at gmail dot com) and I’ll send you one. Or you can follow me here. (Check out the homeschooling board.)
Fixing broken make-up definitely works for me! To see more Works for Me Wednesday tips visit We Are That Family.
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