What do you think?

Its a giveaway!  Yay, woohoo.  Free stuff, we can hear you thinking it.
Our blog here has been a blast to put together.  Lots of wondering how to tweek it better and wondering if others will love it.  So here we are. We want to know what you are thinking.  Do you like our colors?  What would you change if it were yours?  Content?  What would you like to see covered? Layout? To much? To little?  Do you have an idea for a guest blogger? How often should we post?  Are there things you want to see more of? Any ideas for giveaways?  Really we want to here it.  Don't hold back, just tell us how it is.  We want to be your favorite go to blog. 

Want us to sweeten the pot?  How about a $20 gift card to Pizza Hut?  Just comment here and you will get an automatic entry.  Want extra enterys, tell your pals.  If they post referred by ... you get an extra entry.  Please tell us your name so we can let you know if you win.

We will announce the winner here on our blog and its up to you to contact us.   Winner will be chose at random on April 8th 2011 at 9:00 MST.  First post is #1 and so on.  To keep it fair we will use a random number generator.  

Okay.  Ready, set, go!

Expired coupons for Military.

I sit and clip my coupons.  I tote them around in the store looking for that deal to combine my coupons with the give me the ultimate deals.  I use maybe one out of every four I clip and that is guessing high.  That's a lot of coupons that go in the recycle bin each month. 

There is a better option.  Did you know that Military families overseas can use those coupons up to 6 months after they have expired?  And all it will cost us is a stamp and an envelope.

You can find lists off addresses to send your coupons to online at a hand full of sites. It is a huge job to keep these lists current.  This site has done an amazing job.  Find the address or addresses you want to send your expired coupons to HERE.  Simple things can make huge differences.

XOXO Mist

Oreo Truffles

So for those of you reading this, you're probably thinking that I must be 600 lbs because all I ever post on here is food and generally desserts of some kind but it's not true. Sometimes there are dinners.
While searching through blogland I couldn't help but be tempted by the word, "truffle." Really, could you? Now I'm not talking about the dirty, treasures hunted by pigs, but the sweet, morsels of chocolate that call out to you in the middle of the night. I found a very simple recipe for truffles. I have always envisioned truffle-making to be grueling. Images of me sweating in my kitchen over a hot stove with a candy thermometer whilst my slab of marble awaited its turn to be abused have plagued my mind. To my great surprise, I was sorely mistaken. If you can melt chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave than you are set. There is not much more involved than that.

As usual, I made some adjustments per my taste. I used Newman-O's cookies because there is something about the thought of using Oreo's that just doesn't jive with me. I'm sure they are mostly the same but using the Newman's cookies makes me feel like I'm using a healthier alternative. I'm probably totally deluding myself on that but hey, whatever works. If I were to make these again, (they have been ok'd for a repeat by the critics,) I would use semi-sweet chocolate to dip them in as mine were too sweet for me. Even The Man thought that they were slightly sweeter than he would prefer and he has quite the sweet tooth. I also did not do the white chocolate drizzle because mine were already too sweet and that would have put it over the top for me. I might, however, consider dipping these in something...nuts, perhaps?...I don't know. I've always wanted to try the chili pepper and chocolate thing but it never comes up when I'm working with chocolate. Maybe next time.
If you want this recipe you can get it from Recipezaar or from WhiMSy love like I did. She does a tute on her site if you are the kind of person who likes pictures.

If you decide to make this please link back to us and share the blog lovin.

                                      

                               Enjoy!

                               

                                  Eve

Thrifty Hand Soap.

I'm a big fan of the foamed hand soap but my budget isn't.  So I make my own at home with things I already have. 

Step 1-

Round up a bottle of hand soap.

A used bottle from foaming soap.
And a bottle to mix and store it in. 

Step 2-

Mix it up to 1 part soap and 7 parts water.  I pour the bottle of soap in a 2 liter bottle and then add 7 bottles of water to the bottle and shake it up.  Wait until those bubbles from shaking it go down and its ready to use. 

Tip- I use Softsoap because its cheap and often has coupons making it really cheap if not free.  I stock up then and always have it on hand when I need it. Two bottles of Softsoap and the water to mix it will fill a 2 liter bottle if you don't want to measure out all the water one bottle at a time.

  XOXO Mist

Slipped Stitch Scarf

It's March here, so it may be a little out of season for a scarf. But it's cold somewhere, right? If you are a knitter it doesn't matter where you live or what the season, there is always a reason to knit. My mom requested a scarf from me at least a year ago. She even gave me the yarn but a year later I still hadn't started it. I was pregnant for a good chunk of that time so she forgave my procrastination. Though it took me a while to knit, I finally finished it. This is not a difficult pattern by any means but there is something about knitting scarves that just seems foreign to me. I taught myself to knit probably 6 years ago and my first project happened to be a pair of baby slippers. I have been hooked ever since. Knitting a scarf is so simple even with a cable or lace pattern that anyone can do it. If you just learn how to knit, purl, and cast on you are set for most patterns. This scarf is a combination of only the knit stitch and a slipped stitch which will be explained later.

Here is what you need.

Yarn of your choice
Corresponding needle size (I like bamboo circulars.)
Yarn needle

Abbreviations

CO  Cast on
k      Knit
sl     Slip stitch purlwise
BO   Bind off
sts    Stitches


If you practice good technique than you always swatch but I am lazy and never do. Sometimes that is to my detriment but it is usually on fitted garments like a sweater. When it comes to a scarf I find that I can just estimate how wide I am going to want it and then I just stop there. I know, lazy. But it works for me.

My mom wanted a wide scarf, about 10" but you can easily adjust this pattern simply by stopping.

CO an even number of sts.
Row 1: k
Row 2: *k1, sl 1 repeat from * to end of row
Row 3:k
Row 4: k2, *sl 1, k1 repeat from * to last stitch, k1

That's it. Easy peasy. Just follow the pattern to your desired length then BO and weave in your ends. It may be necessary to block your scarf. This ensures that your scarf lays flat and doesn't curl. During the blocking process you can also adjust the garment to the proper dimensions. Eunny Jang has a tutorial on blocking (as do others,) that can be helpful to the beginner knitter.

Gift it to a friend, family member or to yourself. This is easy and depending on your yarn, cheap. My mom found her wool yarn at Tuesday Morning for about $3 a hank but I've gotten yarn even cheaper. One thing to consider when using yarn is to make sure that the dye lots are the same. What looks the same in hank, skein or ball form will not look the same in your finished garment. Trust me. At the end you will have a handmade, inexpensive garment.

                                  Eve

Cocoa Banana Nutter Muffins.

I had some bananas that were past the point of looking tasty.  So I did what anyone would do and went through my pantry to see what I could make from it. We ended up with a muffin which is one of the things I love to cook because I can make a bunch and freeze them for later.

Here are my ingredients.

1 C White Flour
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1 C Sugar
1/2 Butter or Margarine
1/2 C Cocoa Powder
3/4 C Diced Pecans
3/4 C Chocolate Chips
3 Ripe Bananas
3 Eggs
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tblsp Vanilla
Optional Tablespoon of Flax Meal.


Step 1- The Wet stuff.
Preheat oven to 375.

Mix the Butter and Sugar in a bowl.  Cream it up and add the eggs and vanilla and at this point I add the chocolate chips because I want them to be equally mixed in.  Mush the bananas up and add them to the wet bowl.

Step 2- The Dry Stuff.

In a second bowl I have both flours, the pecans, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder and flax meal.  

Step 3- Combine, bake and enjoy. 

Add the dry stuff to the wet stuff and mix it up. 

Either grease or use cupcake liners in a standard sized muffin tin. It will be a thicker batter like a cookie dough so use two spoons to get it into the muffin cups.   Fill the cups 1/2 way full and pop in the oven for 14 minutes. 

Let them cool a bit before getting them from the pan. 

Next time I make them up I will add more chocolate chips.  Just round it up to a 2 C bag of them.  More chocolate is never a bad thing...

XOXO Mist

Love my Bobble bottle.

The more the news talks about BPA being in our plastics the more I panic.  How do I quit using plastic? I am a water lover and always have a bottle with me.  That can be a costly way to do things.  I filter my water at home and store it in a BPA free container in my fridge.  Wouldn't it be nice to have the same system but purse sized? It is, and I love it!

Let me introduce you to my favorite way of drinking H2O.

It's the Bobble Bottle and it's a life saver.  A simple, clear, plastic BPA free bottle with a filter lid.  This carbon based filter removes taste and odor from my water which means I can order water at a restaurant and be able to drink it too.  The filters come in a variety of colors so your family can each have their own favorite.  You just need to switch the filters every two months and go again.  That is a lot of water bottles I don't need to buy, store, and throw away.  

My first bottle was $9.99 and the filters were $9.99 for a two pack at a local store.  You can get them in many stores or online at their website Water Bobble .  They also have different sizes now and that makes me excited!

The filter has a lid that snaps down to stop the flow of water and it works great.  I trust the lid in my purse to not leak on everything else and I keep a computer in there so I need to really know the bottle won't leak.  To drink from it, you hold it up and squeeze.  It was different at first to squeeze the bottle but I love it now.  There is no tipping up and pouring water into your mouth though.  It's great for exercising or just everyday life.  I do worry slightly about how long the bottle will last with all the squeezing to get a drink from it but so far I'm on my fifth month and it still looks and works like brand new.   I enjoy the water I drink and the bottles make it so easy. 

I'm loving the savings.   Ive managed to cut Diet Coke out of my life.  I don't buy case after case of bottled water.  I am also doing my health a favor buy getting the water I need in a BPA free way!

XOXO Mist