Big Lots Laundry cart has other uses

I saw this laundry cart ad for Big Lots for $24.

I decided to try it.  I have other laundry carts and they are getting worn out.  That sounds funny doesn't it.  The fabric is torn from too much laundry stuffed in them.  They have been in my basement for many years and are starting to rust a bit.  Plus I had a $5.00 off coupon from my Buzz rewards card from Big Lots to make the replacement deal even sweeter.

Turns out they have a great feature where there is a wire rack underneath the baskets that keeps them from sagging and eventually the baskets getting dragged along the floor like my old ones.  Each basket can be removed individually unlike my old one.  That is super for moving dirty clothes from the laundry cart to the clothes washer.  I am really liking this laundry cart.  I bought a second one to replace my other laundry cart...then I got crazy and bought a 3rd one.  Why?  Well, good question.  I got another Big Lot coupon in my inbox.  Coupons are a good thing in my book.  Plus, I decided that the cart would be useful to organize some other items than laundry.  I put my gift wrap into it.  I don't know how original that is but it works for me.

My old laundry carts have been washed and sewn up.  I will recycle them at church to hold gym equipment for Awana games.  I think it would work great for dodge balls or bean bags and the like.

<^..^> Lori

Whoooooooo loves you?

My son's Boy Scout Troop did some community work at a local church last night.  They helped with a Family Fun Fest that included a Trunk or Treat.  Here is our trunk!

I cannot accept credit for the idea of using owls and "Whooooo loves you?" as a very talented lady I know used a similar theme a couple of years ago at our church.  I put my own crafty cat spin on it though.

<^..^> Lori

Quick, fragrant and comforting...another delicious meal

I made ONE POT CHILI MAC AND CHEESE last night and it was very good.  Follow the link here to get the recipe.

The recipe was easy and flexible.  I used the whole can of both beans instead of having some left over.  I did add more tomatoes because I love using my garden grown tomatoes from the freezer.  And I had a 17 oz package of macaroni, so I used it and increased the liquid.  It was good and makes a pretty large pot of food.  So we have leftovers for lunches.  I love it.

<^..^> Lori

Another yummy Crockpot chicken recipe

I found some chicken tenders on manager's special pricing this week so I made WAY TOO much of this yummy recipe for Creamy Chicken from the Cozycakes Cottage blog.  In fact, I had to double the ingredients because I had so much chicken.  But that means lots of great leftovers for lunches so it is not so bad.

The weather being cool in the evening and warm in the day just compels me to use my crockpot.  Does it do that to you?

<^..^> Lori

Hey honey

Oh boy!  This looked so good but what drew me to it was the ingredient of honey.  I rarely use honey.  I have a bear shaped bottle of honey next to my tea bags in case someone visiting would want to use it but I don't like it in my tea.  LOL!  This summer we tried a new grill recipe for pineapple that used honey.  I will have to post about that because it was really good.  Anyway, I saw this recipe for Crock Pot Balsamic Pork Roast on Pinterest from Skinnytaste.

I thought it looked good but what really put the icing on the cake was that at the grocery store they had a small package (1.79 lb) of pork tenderloins on manager special.  Do you have a manager special where the meat manager goes through his shelf product and drastically reduces close dated meat before it goes bad?  I often base my meals around these specials.  I save money and try new recipes that I might not otherwise try.  I used the same recipe even though I didn't have 2 pounds of meat and it worked well.

I did have to buy some balsamic vinegar because it is not something I normally stock but I am sure it will make some nice salad dressing down the road.

My family loved it!  

<^..^> Lori

One of my best friends is called the slow cooker or "Crock"

I have long been a fan of the slow cooker or crock pot or just "crock" for short.  Over the years as a working mom, it was a great way to prepare a meal the night before and stick the insert into the fridge.  In the morning, put the insert into the crock and set it to run.  Then no matter if I was late getting home or right on time, dinner was ready.

Now that I have retired from the company after 33 years.  I still love crocks!  I own several of them.  I have two 6 quart versions and one of those units with three small crocks in it.  I use them year round but I especially like to use them in the winter because the house is closed up and the crock makes it smell so good, so homey.

I found a great recipe and wanted to share that it is fool proof.  I am the fool to prove it.  I messed up and added the gravy right in with the broth and chicken.  IT STILL TURNED OUT GREAT!  Hurray!

Here is a link to the blog post where I found the recipe on Ciao Chow Bambina for Chicken & Gravy in the crock.  Doesn't that look yummy?

I served mine over mashed potatoes also.  I made Rhodes parker house dinner rolls plus a salad and my family was VERY happy.

<^..^> Lori

Give your Awana leaders a little "Excitemint"

No, I didn't give up my blogging.  I just stink at keeping up with what is going on in my crafty life.

Jim is the Awana commander for our church.  We like to give the leaders a little treat during the year.  We have a lot of great people that are willing to volunteer their time to work with kids age 3 through 6th grade telling them about the Gospel of Christ.  We thought a thank you was in order.

We had our kickoff meeting for the Awana leaders at church.  I made up a little thank you gift for each of them.  I found Aldi sells Excitemint gum at $.99 for 6 packages.  That made them affordable for me as I would need about 40 packages.  I am all for easy so I printed out labels created in MS Word on Avery 5167 address labels that said "Thank you for your commit "mint" to Awana".  I put one on each package of gum.  Hannah helped me hand them out at the meeting by saying here is a little "Excitemint" for you to start of the Awana year right.

I got the seed idea for this treat from one of my all time favorite Ladies Ministry bloggers, Julia Bettencourt.  She has a section she wrote on using different types of candy bars with catchy phrases for table favors and thank you notes.  When I saw this gum brand, I knew it would work.

<^..^> Lori

Free Valentine download from Jennifer McGuire

Don't miss Jennifer's cute tutorial to make a great calorie free Valentine here.  Jennifer is the real deal crafter keeping us informed with great ideas and great videos and now this great free download.  I am so grateful when people share their talents.

I ordered the card decks from Amazon by following her link.  It got here in 2 days.  I printed the free download and made them in super fast time.  They are going to be treats for kids in our Sunday school class and our Awana class.

Here they are…

<^..^> Lori