Sack Lunch Ideas

Since I pack my lunch to work daily, I've been working on spicing up my choices lately. I adapted my favorite Jason' Deli wrap a few weeks ago.


Then there was this delicious toasted wheat, mayo, fresh mozzarella and basil sandwich.


And last week was toasted wheat, mayo, turkey, tomato and avocado. Yummy!

Any out-of-the-ordinary sandwich ideas? I'm hungry. Do share.

Yum

Yesterday was free queso day at Moe's. Ahh...sweet cheesy joy.

The Buying Cycle

I'm a budget-er. The only debt Lee and I have is our house. We have few credit cards and they are paid off when we purchase anything on them. I clip coupons. We have an emergency fund with 3 months income.

These characters are crucial to my survival, because just as meticulously as I record every $1 McDonald's sweet tea, I lovelovelove to spend money. I love the feeling of walking though the mall with recent purchases in hand. It scares me sometimes how much joy I get from spending money. (Of course that joy is increased by knowing I have the money to spend and am getting a great deal.)

This love of spending is something that often needs to be tempered. My mind jumps to spending conclusions quickly and irrationally.

Example: Behind the kitchen wallpaper there was this weird 70s back splash. Concern was expressed about if paint would adhere to it.

"Well we could tile it," I say. "I would like a tile back splash. You know, if we tile, we might as well update the counter tops. And, if we get new counter tops we should probably replace the cabinets too."

It's like the Paris Hilton version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Fortunately, the paint stuck to the back splash.

But the spending-thought-loop is cycling again. For a new bike. (Ha! Pun!)

I bought my current bike in 1998-ish for $100 from Walmart. After a decade abandoned in the garage, I've pulled it back out to start cycling for health, transportation and because I want to bike across England eventually. Our house is only 1.5 miles from work and it's really silly to drive when I could bike.

But if I bike to work I'll need a basket. And maybe one of those rear rack things. And a bell. And a mirror. And lights.

However, the bike isn't in the best condition. After having my uncle-in-law look at it (He knows about bike things.), the gear shift is still a little wonky. I pretty much just stay in second because adjustments require shift-wiggling and painful sounds. Why get pretty accessories for a bike that's near death?! (Uncle said it would be fine to use but clearly with all the creaking it's not.)

And look at how pretty this is! And this is in my dream bike colors! Hmm...

Jean Love

Getting to wear jeans to work is one of my favorite things about my job. In fact, I wear jeans pretty much every day, year round. (I know, I need to spice it up some, but change takes time.) We won't go into the math of how many jeans I own, the frequency with which I wear them, and how often I wash them because that is sad math and math is already sad enough without leading to gross personal revelations. But suffice it to say I need all my pairs of jeans, and when my favorite pair is starting to show some wear in all the wrong places, action is required.

And then the good news of 40% off at LOFT arrived...

These might be my favorite pair ever. *sigh* Jean love.

A Million Thanks

As with all things in life, I approached purchasing and moving into a house with a variety of fears and concerns. Closing the Friday before a three-day weekend, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get the TV and Internet hooked up or the water heater fixed before our Saturday move. When mom called me a week before the move date asking who was helping us (other than them) and I replied we hadn't asked anyone yet, we both started to freak out that we wouldn't have any help. I had no idea what we would eat all \weekend because I didn't want to cook and I didn't want to live on frozen pizza and canned soup for more than a day. As of Saturday morning, I knew we wouldn't finish packing everything and Lee and I would have to come back later in the week to finish up.

And as with all things in life, I worried and lived to see my fears come to nothing.

The sellers were wonderful people to spend an hour signing documents with at closing. After disagreeing with someone over how much money you should spend on their house, I thought it might be awkward, but they were delightful.

We managed to get a cable guy, a fence guy, an electrician and a plumber all in the house between the hours of 4 to 6 p.m. on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. (And the fence estimate came back within what we had to spend so that will be going in as soon as he can! Yay!)

Three of our neighbors came over to introduce themselves and one brought brownies. It's like Wisteria Lane without the drama.

In addition to Lee and I, we had 10 friends and family, with 2 pickup trucks and 1 minivan to help us move. (And Friday night Lee's parents came over to help us pre-clean.)

Friday night the in-laws brought over hamburgers, hot dogs, and spaghetti casserole. Saturday my parents brought Owensboro barbecue, baked beans, potato salad and tons of potato chips. Lee and I are still working our way through the leftovers.

What wasn't packed, our ten beautiful, wonderful, kind helpers threw in bags and hauled out for us. Saturday, the only thing left in the apartment was Kevin. With the chaos in the house I couldn't deal with having to move a fish and rinse out his bowl. We brought him home last night.

In other miscellaneous good news of the weekend, we learned that Lowe's gives 10% to military members year-round. Plus a 10% coupon we had, we got 20% off our lawn mover, weed eater and other random house needs. And after months of trying to find nice and affordable jeans, LOFT had 40% off your entire purchase this weekend so problem solved!

I'm exhausted, but it was the best Memorial Day weekend ever. A very special thanks to the many, many people who helped us along the way. :)

A Crafty Christmas in Review

Christmas was wonderful! But I'm so glad that I have no plans with friends or family tonight. Not that I haven't enjoyed my time with them very much, but I have some catch-up to do, like telling you how I feel about my partially handmade Christmas now that it's over (finally).

The handmade Christmas started because I was learning how to sew, I didn't suck at it too much, it would be tons of fun, and a great way to save money on holiday gifts. My budget numbers aren't super accurate because this year I would occasionally buy craft supplies for non-holiday projects with holiday money (oops ;) ) and I can only find last year's planned budget, not what I actually spent. So I think I saved....

drum roll, please...

$60

Which is six months of Netflix. Three rounds of Applebee's 2 for $20. Twelve tickets to $5 Tuesday at the movie theatre. Not a terribly exciting amount, but better than nothing.

Oh, I forgot that I a couple less gifts this year in general, but let's still live with the assumption that I saved $60. Go me!

Making Lee a UofL snuggie (super easy pattern here) makes up for years of UofL smack talk, right? Both in the past and the future. As I was telling some friends this morning, with everything that's gone on with their basketball program in the past eight months THE JOKES WRITE THEMSELVES!

Were the stress and long nights worth the savings? Yes and no. If I can start early again next year, I think I'll do it again. If I procrastinate and realize that it's December 10 and I two purses, one snuggie, four notecards, and a year of happy to finish, then I'm just going to Etsy. (Should I remind everyone that I started planning my homemade holiday on September 3?! What went wrong?!) I would rather spend the holidays baking and watching Christmas episodes of Friends than cussing at Laura the sewing machine, swearing every ten minutes that if I ever get a machine with a serger stitch I will never iron open another seam again, and pouting about being the one-woman holiday sweatshop. (This is not meant to diminish the joy or heartfelt-ness of the handmade gifts I gave to my friends and family, because you are wonderful and totally worth it, but maybe next year, I won't procrastinate and you'll also get Christmas cards, cookies and a saner wife/daughter/sister/friend.)

I already have some ideas for next year, which I plan to start on in July at the latest. I promise.
magnetic calendar
argyle ornaments
typographic coasters

I'm a Weeper

I cry. A lot.

More often than not, I cry over fictional things. Common examples include: Steel Magnolias, the Friends series final, Gilmore Girls series finale, Extreme Home Makeover, Grey's Anatomy (When Alex and Izzie got married I cried so hard I had to have Lee come sit with me. I could barely ask him to come sit with me because I was crying that much.), Nicholas Sparks (I hate his books but they make me cry and I hate him more.), The Lovely Bones, and the list goes on. It's kind of sad. Especially when you consider how many times I've seen Steel Magnolias and the Friends season finale. Oh, I can't even talk about the Gilmore Girls finale without choking up. When Luke stays up all night making the tent and then Rory and Lorelai pull up and it's raining and everyone...yeah, I can't do it.

And for some reason, Christmas has become one of those things that makes me cry. I mean, I love Christmas and it's happy tears, but the moment they start to sing "Oh Holy Night" on Christmas Eve, even if the soloist has a horrible voice, I cry. Really though, have you ever thought about the words? They are absolutely stunning: Long lay the world in sin, and ever pining, until He appeared and the soul felt its worth. That's pretty sweet.

(I also got misty on Palm Sunday this year, what can I say?!)

So Saturday I'm at Target with my mom perusing Christmas cards with my cell phone calculator for advanced price analysis and I see this card.

I don't technically cry but I get all choked up and so does mom (I inherit my weepiness from her. You do not want to be there when we watch Stepmom.).

A debate ensues over if I really like this card or not. I mean, it's kind of cheesy but it did make me cry. Then the woman down the aisle reminds me that if it made me cry then clearly it's the one. That's how you pick out your wedding dress after all. (I cried when I decided on my wedding dress, but I still doubt I picked out the right one. Anyways...) So I got a box.

In other shopping news, I got a new purse (50% off at Kohl's!) to replace the one Reagan used as a litter box. Oh, and she appears to be perfectly healthy so that's strike one for the little punk! (Who am I kidding?! I can't get rid of her. I still love that crazy fluffy cat.)


And since it is Music Monday, I just found this Single Ladies cover via @tugonthis and I think it's awesome.

We Are Now Coffee Drinkers

I think Lee and I have officially reached the point of being coffee drinkers. It seems insignificant, yet I feel like this deserves its own post.

I have always loved flavored cappuccinos/lattes (Is it time for peppermint white mochas at Starbucks yet?!), but coffee took some time, even with all the cream and sugar I add. I started drinking coffee at my first post-college job because it was free and 8 a.m. is way too early to have to be at work. Eventually it grew on me, but I left there and moved to a tea-drinking office. Then my next job required a monthly donation to join the "coffee club", but I was too cheap and lazy to join. Now I've been in a free coffee office for almost a year and my dependency has grown. The weekends are increasingly difficult since they lack coffee.

Lee has never liked coffee. Even if you put steamed milk and chocolate syrup in it. Lee survives on Mountain Dew, averaging three a day. I've suggested that this is an unhealthy amount of Mountain Dew to consume, perhaps he should try coffee, but he would refuse.

Then last week I got a call from Lee. It was during the work day. You should know that during office hours Lee generally only calls for real, pressing reasons, but last week:

Me: Hi honey, what's up?

Lee: I think I'm going to start drinking coffee.

Me: Really? Why?

Lee: I had some this morning and I am WIRED! I have gotten so much done! My hands are shaking!

Me: That's great! I'm happy for you!

Lee: We should get a coffee pot. We can make coffee at home.

Me: We do have some bank reward points we could cash in...

Lee: I don't want a crappy coffee pot. Make sure it's a good coffee pot.

Me: Well, we could get a Target gift card and go get anyone we want.

Lee: It should have one of those timers so they'll be coffee ready when I wake up....

So this weekend we got our coffee pot. We are now official "coffee drinkers".

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenniewoo/ / CC BY 2.0

Going Natural

Lately I've been on this natural/organic kick. I've tried this before because it seemed like the cool thing to do, but now I feel it is the right thing to do. And it hasn't turned out be as expensive as I thought it would it be (Although I still buy normal cheese, milk and some meats because that's just really expensive.).

There were several things that kind of happened at once to start this. Several of my friends had recently expressed their concern about where our food comes from and the things that go in it. Do you really need high fructose corn syrup in bread? No you don't. And my office had started going in together with a local CSA to get some fresh, local fruits and veggies. (This was also a great opportunity for us to learn what on earth chard is.) Then I saw the video bleow, which is awesome even if you don't like Star Wars.



In addition to health and environmental benefits, it is so much more fun to shop at healthy grocery stores. Don't get me wrong, I love a good trip to the Walmart, but I truly enjoy being in Whole Foods and Fresh Markets. Plus you can't beat their Sample Saturdays. No where else will the cashier flip through their mailer to find coupons for you. The employees always ask to help you find things or  share personal recommendations. It's amazing.

On Sunday I had bought a bag of honey crisp apples (AWESOME) from Fresh Market and had griped all the way home about the $8 I spent on them. (For four apples! Four huge apples, but still only four apples. I can get a whole sack of organic gala apples at Walmart for $3.96.) On Monday, I go to cut into the first one...and it's rotten. I even checked with a co-worker who is more produce knowledgeable and she told me to take it back. I called the store to make sure I could exchange it and they said it would not be a problem to bring it back.

"Not a problem" does even describe how amazing they were yesterday when I returned with my bad apple. They never even looked at my receipt. A cashier immediately came to my aid, walked me to their produce guide, everyone apologized (I mean, it happens, I understand.) and the produce guy walked me to the apples, helped me pick out a new one and gave me an extra. I'll pay $8 for apples if they come with that kind of service. And they really are the best apples ever.



I must say though, before you start to think I've become some kind of health nut, there are some things that I don't care how many chemicals are in them and I never will:

• Oreos
• Ice cream
• Velveeta cheese logs
• Candy, candy, candy
• Chef Boyardee
• Velveeta Shells and Cheese (The best mac and cheese ever.) 
• Eggo waffles (Although I do get the whole wheat kind.)
• Little Debbie Christmas trees and Valentine hearts
• Pillsbury crescent rolls
• Pillsbury cookies
• Chocolate
  

And there's probably several more...

Labor Day Sale Fiesta

One of the highlights of the long weekend was the huge sale at Joann Fabrics, which included a 10% off total purchase coupon. Clearly, this was a sign from God that it's time for me to begin my holiday crafting.

After reflecting on the things I bought I realized how much (I think; I hope.) I'm going to be saving by making Christmas gifts this year. I spent $36 at Joann and got some earring hooks, fun card stock, and the fabric and magnetic closures for the purses I want to make from this adorable free pattern. But let's just focus on the purses. I spent about $6 on the fabric (BOGO fat quarters) and $4 for BOGO magnetic closures. I still need two more of those but hopefully they'll be BOGO again soon. I also didn't get the small bit of heavyweight interfacing they need (The line was quite long!) but that should be $1. So essentially, these four purses -- four gifts -- will cost $15. I might need to pick up some thread but that's still a huge savings when normally I spend $15-$20 each.

Check out the lovely fabrics I've paired together. The top fabrics will be the outside of the purses.



Do we like?

As for things I did not save money on, I could not find fabric I loved as much as I loved these place mats at World Market, and after a month of waiting for them to go on sale I just bought them. However, they are perfect and awesome.

Library Books!

When I was little (like elementary school) one of my favorite things to do during the summer was go to the library. They had a summer reading program where we met once a week for crafts and to return all of last week's books, get new ones, and receive stars for how many books we'd read. (I was always toward the top of the pack of course.)

Sometime in high school, the library became more of a place for research and movie rentals. I was always afraid that I would like a book so much that I would want to buy it, and if that happened I would have read the copy I owned. Many borrowed books had tiny paper bookmarks to hold my favorite spots until I could buy my own copy and highlight and underline to my heart's content.

Lately I've been trying to start up a book club with some friends (One being the oft-mentioned Caitlin who has a new blog.) and after a month of internally whining about all the new/used books I'd have to buy, I remembered that there are still libraries. Pathetic I know, but it seemed I had forgotten about them.



So yesterday I checked out my first book since college, Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife, and I have not been able to put it down! One of my favorite feelings is that of not being able to put a book down. (Conversely, one of my least favorite feelings is that of "I really don't want to put this book down but I MUST pee! Please let there be a natural break soon or my bladder will die!")

What's Inside

I'm sure I caused you all great anticipation on Friday by sharing a picture of a box and mysteriously not revealing what was inside, since it was my mom's birthday present and she makes up a crucial 5% of my readership.

Mom has now received her gift so I can share it with the world: I made her super cute earrings.



I used this tutorial from Clever Nesting that I mentioned awhile back. Yes, it is just as easy as it looks, and it makes for some pretty inexpensive earrings. For the findings and beads it breaks down to about $1-ish each (considering I waited for a Michaels bead sale and a Joann findings sale) and the 3-in-1 tool and wire cutter were $7-ish each.

One note: When I originally got my supplies I got the bulk bag of silver-plated fish hooks and felt like they bothered my ear a little so I went back and bought the sterling silver. They're a bit more expensive (Actually, the packages are about the same price, you just get 40 hooks less.) but they look nicer and feel nicer so I think it's worth it.



Happy birthday mom! :)

Presents

My mom's birthday is Monday and since the family (Even Grandpa!) is coming to visit on Sunday she will receive her handmade gift them. Since mom is this blog's #1 fan, I can't reveal the handmade surprises in store for her yet, but I will go ahead and share the cute handmade box I crafted from this tutorial.



Happy weekend! :)

I'm a Carnivore for Polyvore

I'm not sure that headline really makes sense. I mean, you can't eat Polyvore, but if you could I would. Anyway...

I just found my new most favorite site ever (for this week): Polyvore.

Polyvore allows users to create their own fashion spreads using clothes from stores across the price spectrum, from Forever 21 to Alexander McQueen. So while you're shopping for clothes and you click on a cute top, it will show you the other items that users have paired it with. Exactly what I've always wanted clothing websites to do! And of course, you can go in and pair things together to make an ensemble! There is so much to love here!!!

It's also a fabulous place to get ideas. For someone who can be a little retarded when it comes to color combinations and being creative with fashion (Which I'm working on because my clothes are very dull. Jeans and top everyday. One of three different pairs of earrings. My wedding bling. That's about it.) (Actually I can be pretty dull on most decor and fashion fronts, as I frequently discuss, most recently here.)

I've played around with it some (Okay, a lot.) and here's my first two creations! Ta da! They might not seem like much, but so much more fun than what I wear everyday!

Summer Shopping by KatieEarley featuring American Eagle Outfitters

Fun with Leggings by KatieEarley featuring KaTang shoulder bags

And of course, all items were priced under $50 because I'm budget friendly.

Now go forth and Polyvore! You can post your creations in comments!!

Penny Pinching

Lee and I have a monthly budget that we try to stick to. Normally, this works out fine, but lately it seems that something comes up and we always go over a little. We keep some extra in the checking account so this isn't necessarily a huge problem (yet) but towards the end of the month I always go into crazy-mode (One might say I stay in crazy-mode.) in an attempt to stay within the budget.

As of Sunday, we were exactly at budget for July. I'm determined to make it through the rest of the week without spending another penny! (In theory.) This month I feel like I've come up with some mildly special ways of stretching our current lack-of-dollar, so I thought I'd share.

• There was 1.5 things we really did need. Kitty litter and milk. Fortunately, I got a $15 rebate from the last time I bought Zoey's flea and tick medicine so that extra income has covered those extra costs covered!
• I have absolutely no eye makeup remover left, so I googled other options because I knew I had heard of some. I wound up using baby oil and it worked better than the stuff I was out of. Score!
• I had been craving chocolate but we were out of pre-packaged treats. I did have some chocolate-chip cookie ingredients though!
  
• I'm running low on breakfast bars so I'm bringing bread and jam and making toast and jelly at work. This is probably a fairly obvious solution, but I hadn't thought of it before so I felt clever.
• Also not ground-breaking, but as I was pouting about our lack of chips until I remembered that we have a lot of popcorn.

Ultimately, the moral of this story is: Really evaluate what's lying around because there is probably something that will work.

There are a few small things that might push us no more than $5 over but I think we did a good job this month! *pats self on back*

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rosscrawford1/ / CC BY 2.0

Stitch-tastic Cards and Awkward Photos

I was trying to be clever and easy at the same time and decided to try my hand at stitching some cards for a birthday present.

It was easy and it wasn't at the same time, meaning it took a couple nights (while watching Season 1 of The Big Bang Theory) and the hole punching (Push pins work better than the embroidery needle, in my opinion.) was a bit tiresome and produced some hand cramps, but I'm generally pleased.



I got the fireworks pattern from Sublime Stitching's flickr. I was really pleased with these.



The "e" is my favorite; the tea cup is my least favorite. The tea cup is taken from some random clip art and I just printed off a big "e."

I'm still working on my technique a bit, but I think there's some potential here.

In other DIY news, in an attempt to save money I've decided to try to trim my own bangs. I bought some real-deal hair scissors yesterday and gave it a whirl. I am quite relieved it turned out alright.



I never know what to do in photos. The standard smile seems too cheesy but then my other faces are just weird.
I'm awkward.

Randomly Found Internet Things

I was at AdRants today, one of my favorite blogs for doing "work research" and found a couple very interesting things.

I was very intrigued by the Tide Total Care commercial and it's promises, only to later by horrifically sticker-shocked when I went to go purchase it at Walmart. One should never be sticker-shocked in Walmart. Apparently though, it's just as good as another type of Tide at half the price, which works as well as the All Small and Mighty I've been using since college. Tide, you have lost my trust; Tim Gunn, never!

I watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, so on many levels I feel that I can't judge this. And I respect arranged marriages as a cultural institution as long as everyone's a willing participant and not 12. But arranged marriage realty TV? I'm not surprised it's on Fox and CBS.

Sarcasm + Cooking = Cooking for Assholes. Brilliant. (I don't think this had any relation to AdRants, but was found today.)

DIY Earrings

I'm collecting ideas for DIY gifts (Especially for Christmas, I only have 6 more months.) in hopes that it will cut down on costs and be extra special and thoughtful and potentially more awesome than what I select after wandering the mall for hours. (Not to knock wandering the mall because I love the mall! But not when it's crowded, I'm tired and can't find anything for that last person and have already blown my Christmas budget a week before.)

Clever Nesting posted this brilliant earring tutorial that has me totally inspired. I'll let you know how it turns out (probably in a month or so).

Potlucks and New Projects

I love potlucks. In my Lexington life I had an amazing job with amazing monthly potlucks (There were themes each month, which generally amounted to food coloring mashed potatoes, but it was still awesome.) Once I moved to Louisville I started crashing Lee's work potlucks because I love a potluck. A couple months ago I found another amazing job but they were lacking potlucks so today we had our first potluck! The theme was Cheeseballs and Garlic, since today is National Cheeseball Day and tomorrow is National Garlic Day. Duh. I brought a tasty recipe I found for easy, cheap crockpot lasagna and it was pretty good!

Despite the fact that I have yet to finish my apron or curtains, I have found my next sewing project that I am eager to start...once I finish all the other ones...

I'm Just Mad About Saffron

Last night I made my creamiest risotto yet. However, it could have tasted better. It didn't taste bad, but I made a few cost-saving changes to the recipe for Chicken and Prosciutto Risotto (found in random cookbook I got for wedding gift that is perhaps my most favorite cookbook yet) and 2 out of 3 worked.

Good: I always use bacon instead of prosciutto and it has always worked well.

Good: Instead of 1/2 cup of white wine I used white grape juice which worked well but perhaps it was only because it was a small amount of wine. This might not work well on recipes that call for lots of wine.

Bad: Did you know that saffron threads are $14.99 at Walmart?! Yeah, I wasn't about to pay that. During some taste tests toward the end of the cooking process I realized that the risotto tasted like chicken broth, not hard to imagine since the recipe called for 7.5 cups of it. I tossed in some oregano because at that moment I liked the way it smelled over the other spices handy. In the end, it still needed some extra flavor boost.

But by golly was it creamy!