This is what $28 will buy ya where I live. . .

Yesterday, I had a day off. It was blissful. On Fridays, my routine goes a little something like this. . take Gretel to school, pray with some amazing ladies from my church and then ride the waves of freedom while my Prince Charming teaches Science and Music.

I shopped with my envelope full of $28.00. Yes, we do the envelope system. If you have never been tortured by experienced the Envelope System it helps to control spending in certain categories of your budget.

Anyway, back to the original intent of this post . . to celebrate what $28 got me yesterday. This is a picture of it. The most expensive part of my purchase was indeed the wooden caddy from an antique store in town. The moment I saw it, it opened opportunities I had never experienced before. I saw little candles in each of the compartments with a festive bow at the top. Then my imagination took me to the possibilities of a silverware caddy when my friends are over feasting with us. Where does your decorative mind take you when you look at this?

The clothes I bought at a place kind of like Goodwill. Yes, I shop at Goodwill from time to time. No shame in my game! I am a smart girl with a shopping habit and $28.00 in my envelope so don't mess with me! :) All of $7 I spent there. I bought 1 fancy shirt, a pair of workout pants, a black cardigan, and a little vest thingermajiger.
One of my other, but most intense shopping issues is a fabric fetish. The place that I go to is the most amazing fabric warehouse. Even the little ladies that do not live in my area were commenting yesterday that they have never seen so much fabric before. It is wall to wall with upholstery, sheers, and other sewing paraphernalia. One of the ladies said as she was weeding through the dollar pile, "No reason for anyone to be cold. . . all you need is a needle and some thread." I wholeheartedly agree. No reason for any pillows to not be cute or a window to be bare. :) This pretty much concluded my shopping after I spent a whopping .54 cents on that cute fabric to cover a couple of pillows for my bed.Every town and city has their own charming places to shop. Where are the places that you like to shop and get bargains on? I would love to know. Leave a comment and maybe you and I can go there together some time!

Have an awesome Saturday.

These are a few of my favorite things ...

Do you hear me singing as I type? The hills are alive with the sound of music. . . .

Shopping makes me sing. Online shopping makes me sing louder and "purtier!" That is a word where I am from.

Lately, every time my hubs gets home he is greeted with a box that says Coldwater Creek. They just have these nasty email updates that say, 300 Hottest Deals in Outlet and I just can't resist! The reason I like them so much is because they fit my little odd shaped body. I have big hips but I am short! Their clothes fit right.
Word of caution: You do have to weed thru the little ole' gray hair ladies section first before you can get to the fun stuff.

Speaking of Valentines or Mother's Day I really like Snapfish or Shutterfly for fun gifts. Last year I made My Prince Charming a fun mug for Father's Day. It had this cute pic of some really cute kids collaged all over it.


Back in the day when I sold jewelry from Premier Designs (which was super fun by the way) I did my bulk shopping for give-aways and accessories at Wholesale Accessory Market. It truly is eye candy when the screen pops up. I believe there is a $50 minimum order which should not be too hard if you really search around enough. Do not tell your husbands though or he may ban you from my site.

Also, I have a few of my favorite Valentine sites on My Sunday's Best Post. There are some free Valentine supplies on one of the sites.

Check out all of the other Works for Me Wednesday posts to find out what is putting everyone else on the edge of their seat as far as online shopping goes. Fun times we live in.

Scrapbooking for Dummies

Did I mention my scrapbooking retreat? I probably did not talk too much about it because I was embarrassed. I am just now crawling out of my closet of shame.

You see, I was invited by my one of my roommates from college to attend her semi-annual scrapbook retreat that she helps to host. She asked me back in like September and the retreat was not until January. I thought to myself, what's the big deal? Why would you need to sign up five months early to get a spot for something like that, but she was pretty emphatic that we reserve our spot quickly if we were interested.

A little bit about me. I love to collect paper and stickers. Very seldom do I actually use them. I have "Scrapbooked" a time or two so I thought. Mainly, if you know me, this will not come as a surprise, I like people and I like to talk. That's it, that was my motivation for signing up so quickly. Forty-five women to talk to. Yay!

Well, let me tell you what a big deal this scrapbooking retreat was! I just did not know there were such people out there so interested in their "hobby" to have special cup-holders to hold their drinks in while they cut paper. And much to my dismay and utter shame I wheeled in my American Tourister luggage (shown on the bottom left hand corner of the pic) full of scrapbooking supplies. I was even a little impressed with myself that I even thought to put my "scrapbooking" supplies in such a handy device. Well, if you don't know I will let you in on a secret. They have scrapbooking carrying cases just for your scrap-booking supplies. Many of them go by the code name, Crop in Style.

Alright, now that I have let you in on the secret you can imagine my face when I walked in on about 45 ladies scrapbooking that had walked in earlier with these and these. Yeah, I was one of the last ones to arrive and they had been there all day and I made my GRAND ENTRANCE with my American Tourister Luggage BABY.

Many of them brought their own cut-out machines called Cricuts. Well, where I am from, you hear those at night, not on the table while you are cutting out paper. Girls, it was a real wake-up call to me to be around such classy scrapbookers. I learned a few tricks of the trade like how to make a sticker out of ANYTHING! People kept saying, "Could you pass the Xyron!?" I didn' t even know what language they were speaking. . .I guess scrapbookease.

It was super fun because my original goal was still being met. To sit there for almost 48 hours straight talking with women about all kinds of things. The biggest reward of the whole weekend was the intense love I felt coming home to my kids and husband. I had been looking at thousands of pictures and recounting all of the memories that my family and I had shared over the last year. It was an amazing weekend . . .even if I am a big ol' dummy when it comes to scrapbooking.

Menu Plan Monday

Oh my, I am so behind! Usually, I have my menu planned out on Sunday evening. We celebrated the Super Bowl with my wild friends from church last night. We had a blast, but I had a major dip hangover this morning! I did not wake up until 10 minutes before Gretel had to be at school. Not the way to start a Monday! Oh well, hopefully we will be back on track before long.

Hansel has been awesome to help me this morning. He is serving as my secretary in going through the large amounts of papers that I have accumulated. He also, without asking and trying to avoid school work, worked on cleaning Gretel's room. Amazing kid!

So here goes my menu for the week.

Monday – hotdogs/leftover dip

Tuesday – Mushroom Chicken from Lazy Day Cookin' Slow Cooker Meals (have not tried this yet, so wait on my review until you try it, ok?)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 pkg. dry chicken gravy mix

10 3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom

1 cup white wine

8 oz. pkg of cream cheese

Put chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle gravy mix on top. In separate bowl, combine soup and wine and pour over gravy mix. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. During last 30 minutes of cooking time, stir in cream cheese. Before serving, remove chicken (keeping it warm) and whisk the sauce until smooth. Serve chicken and sauce over noodles or rice.

Wednesday – pancakes/fruit and bacon (prep lasagna)

Thursday – lasagna/salad/garlic bread (this is one of my favorite recipes and the best/easiest lasagna ever)

1 lb. bulk sausage

8 oz. small curd cottage cheese

1 egg

1 lb. grated mozzarella cheese

1 jar (32 oz.) Ragu chunky garden style spaghetti sauce

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Make meat sauce by combining sausage and spaghetti sauce. Create cheese sauce by pureeing cottage cheese, sour cream, egg and Parmesan cheese in blender. In greased 9 X 13 put enough meat sauce to cover bottom of pan. Layer UNCOOKED noodles, 1/2 meat sauce, 1/2 cheese sauce, 1/2 mozzarella cheese. Repeat layering again ending with mozzarella cheese. Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 350 for 1 hour until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I usually make two batches of this to freeze for later or for a friend in need.

Friday – homemade pizza

Saturday – chili or leftovers

Sunday – Taco Salad

And the Winner Is. . .

Drumroll please!

After plugging in the random number picker. . . #43 is the winner of the $15 Sonic Card. Helene from The Sun-Kissed Home, as well as her blog, Plato's Kitchen won the prize. Congratulations, Helene!

Thank you for visiting Clappy Shoes and I hope that you will be a regular "checker" of my site. I love blogging and I hope you love reading my blog.

My Sunday Best-Valentine Edition

This picture is of Prince Charming's Grandparents. I adore them. They are rock solid, still growing in the Lord and have a very sweet marriage. I praise God for marriages like these to look to as an example. Thank you for persevering Grandma and Grandpa!

What do men really need and what makes them really happy? This is a great blog! She is a wife and mother to five kids! Simply Amazing!

What does Donald Trump really think of marriage? There is a bad word on this site, if you can blind yourself and look on the 10th personal quote you will see his thoughts on marriage.
Note to self: Do not think Donald Trump holds the answer to marriage.

Have some extra money this Valentine's? Personalize your M & M's!

Need help with a marital issue? Check out this website for resources to help you through the hard times as well as to improve your marriage during the easy times. Is there such a thing? :)

Romantic Freebies. . .print out love coupons, free ebooks,romance plans, love puzzle, etc. This is Christian site based on the books of Lorraine Pintus and Linda Dillow. They have really helped to change my perspective of romance in a Christian marriage.

Ok, now that you are all prepped for Valentine's Day. . .make an action plan and give your hubbie the best of you! My prayer for you this year is that your marriage will be everlasting and full of beauty. Have a great week and stay tuned for the next episode of My Sunday Best!