Cheap But Thoughtful Valentine's Gift

Do you have one of those husbands that has a hard time thinking of date ideas and so you always have to plan the dates?  Welcome to my world...  My husband is a first year teacher and has little time to be creative or romantic, but he has looked in this box for a few hints (not that he has done one yet, but with V-day coming up I am thinking this little box might come in handy for him!)  With Valentine's Day fast approaching I have decided to share this little idea with those that might have agreed to a "cheap" Valentine's day or you just like to give your special someone something with a little thought behind it.

The gift is called a Hint Box.  I found the idea somewhere online last year as I was looking for gifts for my hubby.  I used a card board box I bought from Joann's and covered it with paper and mod podge to make the box pretty. Make your box as flashy or as simple as you like!  (You could also just use a mason jar or something like that to put all your hints into.)  I then took strips of paper and wrote date night ideas on each paper slip.  Some ideas cost little to no money and others would cost a little more.  After I wrote out each idea I folded up the piece of paper and wrote either "free" "$" or "$$" on the outside of the slip.  This way my man could look for a date night that fit our budget at that time.

Here are some of the date night ideas I included:
1.  Free- pack a picnic lunch and have lunch/dinner at the park.  Bring a book (or game) for each of us so that we can finish the date with reading or a game.
2.  Free - Wii night!  Line up an array of Wii games and prepare to have some fun!  Rent games or just use the ones we have!  Make it into a competition with some kind of prize ;)
3.  $$  - Take me to a store and give me $10 to spend in anyway I want (on something I want, not need) and give yourself $10 to spend as well!  Shopping trip!
4.  $$ - For a very special date, write me a love letter and give it to me at dinner at a nice restaurant.  Finish the date off with some flowers.
5. $ - Make a movie night.  Pop some popcorn, buy some movie theater style candy and surprise me with a movie rental!
6. $ - Setup a puzzle and snacks for a fun night were we can snack and talk and puzzle together!
7. Free- Take me to a park with a blanket and a board game and have a game night outside!
8. $ - Surprise me by taking me out to a great ice cream store!
9. $$ - Ice cream sundae night!  Get all the fixings and create an ice cream buffet for us to share!
10. Free- Clean the house and surprise me with a spa day.  Rub my feet, hands, and back with candles burning and soft music going.  Never know how this might end.. ;)

Of course you can always come up with more dates specific to you and your special one.  I love ice cream so it is often featured in my ideas :)  We also love games and puzzles so I included this in my ideas as well.
With the hint box I also created a list of 101 reasons why I love my husband.  I picked 101 because I thought this would challenge me to find very small and specific details... 101 reasons took me awhile but after about a week of really thinking and watching what makes me love this man so much, I came up with 101 reasons!

This gift went over really well and my husband loved it!  I have done the coupon books before but I never stick to them so I thought this was a better twist!  I am hoping to add a few more suggestions this year as part of his V-day gift!

Crockpot Loaded Baked Potato Soup

So after looking on Pinterest for dinner ideas I stumbled upon a loaded baked potato recipe that seemed easy enough.  I was a little skeptical at first as you use frozen hash browns for the potatoes and this just seemed like it wouldn't work.  WOW!  It totally worked and the result was fantastic!  The recipe can be found here http://crumbsinmymustachio.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/crockpot-loaded-potato-soup/

This soup was amazing and so easy to put together!  Just throw everything in (expect the half and half and the flour) and let it cook on low!

We had a snowday yesterday so we were in the house all day smelling the soup and it was so tempting to dig in before it was even finished.  I forgot to take a picture but it was fantastic and it made a lot of soup!  For a comforting meal at a good price you have to check out this recipe!  Thanks to Crumbsinmymustachio for such a great meal!  I plan on checking out what else you have on your site in the days to come!

Back on the Horse with a 50th birthday present

So here we are in a new year and I have not been a very good blogger.... I have not written anything in quite a while....  Oh well not much has been done or happened since the last post.  I have finished a few projects over the last month or so.  I finally finished an afghan for my best friend that I promised her 3 years ago... oopps...  It is pretty gorgeous and I liked it so much that I have started another one for my own house.  I made some Christmas cards but instead of sending them out, I used them with my Christmas presents.  So it worked out pretty well I think.  I forgot to take pictures of them so I will have to get better about that as well as just plain posting on here!  I also reorganized our "guest room" into a craft room.  I have a craft room now!  I was working on a project in there this morning though and it was a little chilly... that was when I realized the heating vent was closed... :) So I still ended up crafting on the dining room table.  My most recent project is a gift for my dad for his 50th birthday.  As a recent college graduate I of course have TONS of loans to pay-off so my budget has become increasingly smaller over the last few months.  Plus we just had Christmas so my wallet is really feeling the pinch now... So after looking on Pinterest for a little bit and perusing the Internet, I came up an idea.  I decided to make him a jar gift.  

I used an old spaghetti jar that I saved and filled it with 25 pieces of candy.  I then made a list of 25 memories and hopes for the future that involved my dad in some way, shape or form.  I cut out each reason onto a slip of paper and folded it up and put all the slips in the jar with the candy.  I made a cut tag that I hot glued onto the front of the jar and I mod podged a decorative piece of paper onto the lid to hide the name of the spaghetti jar.  Tied a ribbon around the rim of the jar and called it good!  It isn't amazingly beautiful but I am happy with the outcome and I think my dad will love it!

Here is the tag I used if anyone wants it!

50’s not so bad...

Here are 50 memories, dreams and candies to make the day a little sweeter.  Look back on the good times, look forward to the ones not yet made and don’t look at your waistline after you eat all the candy J

Here are a few sayings to remember as you are turning 50 today:

1.      Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live! – Anon

2.     The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down. -  T. S. Eliot

3.     I still have a full deck; I just shuffle slower now – Anon

4.     I'm not 50. I'm 18, with 32 years of experience!

Quicky Get Well card

So using some scraps, my Cricut and some stickers from Joann's I quickly came up with this simple card for a co-worker who is ill.   It isn't really impressive, but I think it came out ok.

I have to start my Christmas cards soon!  I can't wait to get started!  I'm thinking about having a crafting party one night with some friends and just make cards for the Holiday season :)

Getting Organized...Hopefully

So after being frustrated for some time now on who is doing what in the household lately, everything came to a head last night and in the end I slept on the couch last night to stay away from brooding hubby.  After tossing and turning from both anger and sadness, I decided it was time to try some organization to help out our little family.  I have been looking for calendars to use since I like the way my mom writes everything down on a calendar on the fridge, but either they are too expensive or not magnetic.  So I decided to make a calendar of my own with Microsoft Word.  And this is what I came up with!  I only went until December as I am hoping to find a calendar that I really like as the new year approaches!  But this one is cute and functional so it works.  Plus I just used my printer, some cardstock, ribbon and magnet strips I already had!  :)  If you want a copy of anything please just leave a comment and I am more than willing to share!

Next issue was our dinner schedule/menu.  I plan for meals before I go shopping, but then I don't have a plan for WHEN I will make each meal.  So I try to give the hubby the option and soon find that I am offering too many options and I get "I don't care, you pick." line.  So I looked online for ideas and found this great picture of a menu planner from a blog called Simplee Crafted (here).  I printed it on cardstock and covered it in contact paper so that I could use a dry-erase marker on it and then put more magnetic strips on the back and voilà I have a menu planner now.  I really like the way it turned out and I already have next week's menu up and running (as you can see)

And probably the most frustrating issue lately has been the lack of help I am getting around the house.  I know that my hubby is a new teacher and has a lot to do.... but I could use some help as I work 40 hours a week at the school as well and then come home and take care of puppy, make dinner and try to keep the house clean. (Plus craft a little when I can) : D   So I am trying this chore grid that I made on Microsoft Word with clipart.  Each person has 4 letter chips and the chip goes right by the activity that needs to be done by that person during the current week.  I printed off monograms for the hubby's and my own first names and then covered them in contact paper and put magnets on it.  I put magnets on the chore chart as well, but now I think I should have done something different as I had planned on putting the chips right on the grid, but with the magnet strips on the back of the grid, the magnets on the chips wouldn't stick to the fridge... oh well, live and learn!

 So all together my fridge now looks like this!  I am super happy about it and I will soon see what the man thinks when he gets up for the day.  Of course knowing him, he is probably just hiding in the bedroom and won't come out because he doesn't want to face me... well he has to come out to use the restroom or eat sometime or another : D

Thanks for reading and I will update you on how this system works!

 

When you can't craft, research!

So just having my wisdom teeth out 2 days ago, I am not to full capacity as of yet.  With that I am still in a crafting mood.  Internet research time then!  One of my frustrations of card making sometimes is that scrap pile is growing larger and then I'm not sure what to do with the scraps....  Well thanks to Brenda's blog (Scrap Happy with Brenda) I can now cut out 3 cards from one sheet of 12x12 paper!  I was so excited to find this tutorial that I just had to share it!  Thanks Brenda for sharing this photo and the how to!  This will definitely come in handy as I progress in my card making!!!

Picture taken from Scrap Happy with Brenda Blog

Last weekend I went Joann's and found some pretty good stuff!  Hopefully I will get to craft a little this week since the hubby is at New Teacher Training until Wednesday!  Now if only the puppy and my teeth will allow this to happen...  Hopefully new cards will be coming at you soon!  Thanks for reading!

Confucius Quote to Use in Some Way

Today was a bundle of fun.  I had students learning place values and was having a "race" and of course told my students not to run... but there is always that one student.  Needless to say he ripped the knee of his pants when he slid across the carpeted hallway to get to the correct place value first (the wrong one at that).  Later I came to find that the student called his parents and said that it was my fault that his pants were ripped and that I told him to run.  He got in trouble for this of course, but it definitely didn't brighten my day.

So while looking on the Internet to wind down from my day tutoring in math, I found this quote and wished my students would see this and understand it.  I think I am going to make a card or something with this quote on it to remind myself and my students of this great way to live!  

If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself. 

Confucius 

Any ideas on where or how to use this quote???