Our Deck is Ready for Sunshine!

A few years ago we built an addition on to our house which created a covered deck for us.  It is not a huge space but it is covered.  I inherited a wicker set from my grandparents some years back and decided that it would be perfect on the deck.  The wicker set is of VERY good quality but it was meant to be used as indoor furniture...it was not meant to be used by two dirty yorkies who love to cuddle on it.  The cushions were faded out and just looked really bad.  I thought about selling the set but knew I could not afford to purchase a set of this caliber for a long time.  So, all winter, I thought and thought about what I could do to save it...

Here is what the set started out as...pretty tired and sad looking!

I found some very rugged outdoor material on the web on sale and decided to recover it.  The covers can easily be removed to be washed.  I love the color.

Then I had an idea for displaying a great croquet set that I had bought at an auction...for $20.00.  My hubby made me a peg board and painted it the same color as the house trim.

Now the other side of the deck is all tricked out and looks welcoming.

For about $200.00 and a weekend of sewing and ironing ~ we transformed our deck.  By NO means am I confident seamstress...but I just created an easy pattern based on each individual cushion.  The material was expensive but it is very good quality and I have every reason to believe that it will hold up really well.  I am totally in love with this space now.

PAID OFF!

Much of the reason that I have been couponing, menuing, cooking from scratch, etc. is because of our desire to get out of debt.  We have always had too much debt.  For many years we have lived the typical American dream...don't save for purchases....CHARGE them!  The tanking of our economy the past few years have made us reevaulate that notion. 

My hubby does his part by doing much of the household fixes himself and making repairs as frugally as possible.  For example our dishwasher door broke...and he scoured the intenet until he was able to find a part to fix it and he did fix it at a fraction of the price.  Recently our toilet tank cracked.  Instead of tearing the toilet out and getting a new one, he asked around and someone actually had one that they had found in a "bone yard" behind his place of work.  We got the toilet tank for free and it works and looks perfect.  By taking time to find a solution, he has saved us a bunch of money. 

My contribution is trying to buy food and personal products for our household as cheap as possible.  We cook from scratch as much as possible and try to eat out as little as possible (but that is always a work in progress).  I have also tried to stock up and preserve foods that are in season.  I am also starting my own seeds for the garden...and saving in the total cost of the garden.

It is not easy...we are very budgeted and there is not much room for flexibility.  But today...we reached a big milesstone....both our truck and our car are PAID OFF!  The truck was paid off early a while back but today our car was officially paid off.  We put extra on the principal and paid if off about 7 months early.  I cannot even remember how long it has been since we have been without a auto payment...may the last for many more years.

 

Feeling Energetic

I dont' know if it is because it is spring...or if it is because I have been counting calories and limiting the bad stuff...but whatever it is, I have more energy then normal.

My butt, back and shoulders are sore from planting my red and purple potatoes yesterday...but I will blog more about that soon.  I am behind on my gardening.  We have had beautiful weather (up to today) but most days we spent out of town at a volleyball tournament.  I will need to get a bunch of starts going this weekend. 

Tonight I came home and cooked.  Actually, I came home with a good share of our dinner already cooking.  My favorite youngest daughter is home on spring break so I had her make pulled pork in the crockpot.  BUT...I didn't let her make it with bottled bbq sauce ~ rather, she got to make it homemade from a new recipe I just found.  I am going to post the recipe but I am kind of afraid because the website has this scary sounding warning about "duplication of any content...".  However it was adapted from Emeril Legasse and I found it on the Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice blog.  Visit her blog...she has a TON of yummy recipes.

Crockpot Barbecue Pulled Pork

3 tsp. paprika (can use a combination of sweet and/or smoked)

2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried thyme
1½ tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, optional                                                                        
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 (6oz) can of tomato paste
1½ cups beef broth
1/2 cup cider or white vinegar (or a combination of both)
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1½ cups sliced onions
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 pounds boneless pork roast

In a large crockpot whisk everything except the onion, garlic and pork together until well combined.  Stir in onion and garlic and add the pork roast (you can cut the pork roast in half first for a shorter cooking time).  Cook on high 4-6 hours or until you can shred the pork easily with two forks; after shredding pork, I continued to cook for additional 1+ hour.

I served the bbq pork topped with fresh made coleslaw all on a homemade roll that I had in the freezer.  I found the coleslaw recipe via what2cook.  I actually found both these recipes on Pinterest...I am becoming a total Pinterest junkie...but I will save that story for a different blogging day. 
 

KFC Coleslaw Copy Cat

8 cups finely chopped cabbage (I used one head)

1/4 cup shredded carrot (I used one carrot)
2 tbsp. minced onion
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I used more, I like a thicker dressing)
¼ cup buttermilk
1½ tbsp. vinegar
2½ tbsp. lemon juice

Mix all together.  Taste amazing!

 

Finally, in between getting the pork finished up and making the coleslaw, I made a couple loaves of regular bread, I got some pizza dough into the freezer and made my first ever batch of French Bread.  I got a lot done before 7:00 pm tonight!  I love when I have such productive days. 

This was my first attempt at making french bread...and one loaf turned out beautifully!  The other loaf doesn't look as good but I am sure it will taste just fine.  Right at this moment...my house smells wonderfully of homemade bread ~ no better smell that I know of.

How Many Days Until Spring?

The last couple of days have been all about the dirt.  With daylight savings time...I am now able to enjoy some sunlight for a few hours after work ~ loving it!  On Sunday my hubby and I went to the Home & Garden Show at the Everett Comcast Arena.  We were really disappointed with it as a whole.  Normally these shows give us some inspiration but there wasn't much to inspire us at this show.  However, I did not leave empty handed...I brought home 3 plants that they were selling for 1/2 price....unfortunately, I don't know the name of them.  They look pretty though.

On Monday, after work, I planted those 3 plants, did some weeding and tried a new trick to try to get cats to stop using my flower bed as a litter box.  IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!  Those dang cats poop in my flower bed right by the front door...and it just isn't right.  So...I recently read about how lemons may do the trick to break this mean cat behavior.  My favorite blog, 100 Dollars a Month posted about 10 Cool Uses for Lemons ~ and #10 was about sprinkling lemon peels in the area...because apparently cats don't like the smell of citrus! I bought 5# of lemons from Cash and Carry...grinded those suckers up and am praying that it works.

Today (Tuesday)...the wind was howling and the rain was falling but I still got to garden.  I moved my cauliflower, broccoli and onion starts out to the greenhouse.  I think I saved my cauliflower and broccoli...they got very leggy but I transplanted them deep in new containers and I see new leaves popping out. 

I also planted some new vegetable starts:

Stupice Tomtatoes (first round of tomatoes) (from Territorial Seed Co.)
Impatiens ~ Tempo butterly Mix (from Territorital Seed Co.)
Basil ~ Sweet Basil (Ferry-Morse)
Sweet Red Peppers ~ Crispy Hybrid (Burpee)
Early Jalapeno ~ Hot Pepper (Territorial Seed Co.)
Sweet Yellow Peppers ~ Fort Knox Hybrid (Burpee)

Now my bar is filled with the second round of starts...I wonder if other people use their bars for growing plants??!!

A Day in the Life

Today was the type of day that I cherish.  My family and I were supposed to be in Puyallup early this morning for a very long day of volleyball with my favorite youngest daughter’s team.  Unfortunately my youngest got VERY sick last weekend and missed school almost all week...she barely made it through the early release Friday.  She needs a few more days to recover...so volleyball was cancelled (by me).  I was sad...but excited at the same time.

Here’s what I did...

Woke up ~ enjoyed a couple cups of my “poor mans” mocha and read the paper

Washed Clothes

Couponed and organized the coupons     

Made a batch of bread

While the bread was rising...ran to Fred Meyers and saved major money on some groceries

Got home just in time to shape the bread dough...2/3 of the dough went to making 2 loaves of bread, the other third went into the freezer for pizza night next Friday.

Ran outside to plant 25 Walla Walla starts  

While outside...I cleaned out a flower bed.  My three peonies have broken through the dirt!

Baked the bread

Ate an amazing peanut butter and jelly sandwich...on homemade bread ~ YUM!

Decided to make a crockpot soup with the cheap cauliflower I got at Fred Meyers..."googled" to find a good recipe

Washed more clothes

Went to the Library...had an overdue book and was out of reading material

Went to Safeway...saved 50% on a cart full of groceries.  Feels good to be saving $$ again

Decided to sit on the couch, have a snack and read for a bit...I woke myself up snoring

Finished up the crockpot cauliflower soup...yum and made cheese zombies for dinner (look for recipes in an upcoming post)

Decided to make muffins for the month ~ first batch up, triple chocolate muffins (24 each), next...blueberries with cinnamon & sugar topping (22 each) and finally I made my favorite, pumpkin and cream cheese (22 each)

Worked on this blog while my hubby and favorite youngest daughter watched the high school basketball playoffs.  Our Lake Stevens girls finished 5^th in state...they were an amazing team to watch this year.

What I didn’t do today?  I didn’t get to start the quilt that I am making for little Maddi’s second birthday, didn’t go to the gym, didn’t take a shower (I went out in public with less than good looking hair and no makeup...I made sure to not make eye contact with anyone, in case I saw someone I knew).  And now that I am thinking about it, I do believe I forgot to brush my teeth.  Yuk.

Cauliflower and Broccoli Seeds in the Dirt

Tonight I got a flat of cauliflower and broccoli planted.  They are watered, sitting on a heating pad and are being “sunned” by a grow light.  Sounds like a nice life to me! 

Last year I lost all my broccoli and cauliflower starts because I planted the starts without “hardening” them off...it was a major brain freeze on my part.  I also planted them later last year...but I just read that in my area (Lake Stevens, WA) they can go in the ground beginning now.  I hope to have them planted in the garden in about 8 weeks.

So far I have two different onion seeds started (about 2 weeks ago) and the broccoli and cauliflower now planted (these seeds also came from Territorial Seed Company).  Now I need to get working on what I will be planting next...I am a little behind on my planning.

Seeds planted today:

Broccoli ~ Hybrid Broccoli Blend...containing four different seeds:  Everest, Express, Southern Comet and Belstar.

Cauliflower:  Amazing

Onions Seeds Planted! Garlic is Growing...

About two weeks ago I planted my onions.  Currently I have about 200 onion starts growing under the light.  I bought the seeds through the Territorial Seed Company.  Here are the two types I decided on this year:

Ruby Ring Hybrid Sweet Spanish Onion (red onion)     
Milestone Hybrid Sweet Onion

I am not sure why I chose two sweet onions...but I do remember choosing them for their storage longevity.  I would really love to not buy onions ever again.

 

             Next up:  Garlic

Last fall I planted 50 garlic bulbs...and all 50 are sprouting.  Love it!  But even better, while I was working in the garden a couple of days ago (when we had the most beautiful day I have ever seen in February) I found a bunch more garlic growing.  I must have left some garlic behind last year.  I dug them up, separated the starts and replanted them...bringing my total up to 73 cloves of garlic growing in my yard.  If it all grows, every family member will be getting a garlic braid next Christmas!

 

  And finally:                                                       

I filled the planter, by the front door, with double ruffled primroses.  It was the perfect way to celebrate a sunny, blue sky day in February (and the fact that I was able to take a vacation day from work and putter in my yard instead).