Walmart & Buddeez 32 qt ‘pet food’ container for $6.99

Hi, world.  Long time no type.  Life has just been weird….

• Main computer died
• Was sick, before the Virus officially hit
• The Virus (no, not willing to say it’s official name) threw a major wrench in life
• Did not if I had anything I wanted to share….

But, since I just ordered two of these I figured I would share.  I have always had a small stockpile of food since I never knew if there would be a major earthquake, major snow storm, etc.  And yes, the snow storms we had this last winter did delay trucks from getting to the stores.

And now with the Virus it has been random if I can find the things on our list.  We don’t go out often and when we do we are wearing masks.  Yesterday was the first time, since the virus made our state shutdown, that I have seen a 5 lb bag of all purpose wheat flour.  So, maybe things are getting back to normal.

A friend suggested years ago that I put brown rice, etc  in gallon ZipLoc bags and put them in the freezer for a least a few days to kill any bugs.  I did that, but bags are stacked in a Rubbermaid tote in the bottom of our pantry.  Not the best organization since they are just stacked on each other and there is a lot of wasted space.

So, when I saw these posted on Instagram today by @ivebeenlivingwrong I realized they should work for stacking my ZipLoc bags neatly.  Assuming their dimensions are correct they will fit at the bottom of our pantry.    Otherwise, I will find a different location or use them for the extra dog food that doesn’t fit in the sealed container we have for Pepper’s dog food.

Buddeez 32 Quart ‘Bag-In’ Pet Food Dispenser, Holds up to 22 lbs

$6.99 was regularly $21.99

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Buddeez-32-Quart-Bag-In-Pet-Food-Dispenser-Holds-Up-To-22-Lbs/45799324

 

They should arrive after Memorial Day.  I will try to post an update after they arrive.

I checked the manufacturer’s website and this size is totally sold out.

So, are you finding everything you want at the grocery stores?

-H

 

Tip Tuesday

So, I made some gluten-free sourdough starter with sorghum flour that I had in the house from the following recipe and we thought it was too sour.

https://successfullyglutenfree.blogspot.com/2013/12/easy-gluten-free-sourdough-starter.html

And, then I realized I didn’t have any brown rice flour in the house, but I realized that I had brown rice in the pantry so I ground some of the brown rice with a older coffee grinder (which hadn’t been used for coffee) similar to this one and made my own brown rice flour!

https://www.target.com/p/mr-coffee-174-blade-grinder-black-ids57-np/-/A-16391441?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&CPNG=PLA_Appliances%2BShopping&adgroup=SC_Appliances_Food+Dehydrators&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9030852&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&ds_rl=1246978&ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Appliances+Shopping&adgroup=SC_Appliances_Food%20Dehydrators&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=c&location=9030852&gclid=CjwKCAjw6-_eBRBXEiwA-5zHadkXcFHD7V0BYp0KC6q7QsO17p_9CJ-gNlpOm-ZmRcdib-k4wi3E9xoCxD4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

At the moment the brown rice flour and water are sitting on the counter.  Later this week / next week I will report back how the sourdough bread turned out.

What creative cooking tips have you done lately?

Later – Heather

 

Wedding dress stores

Note:  This post is not sponsored and I am giving 100% of my own opinions.

I had also stated in the post, where I announced that daughter ‘A’ had gotten engaged, that my Father-in-law had lived with Parkinson’s for many years.

Due to that fact, when daughter ‘A’ was searching for places to go wedding dress shopping she was interested in going to the Glamour Closet store in San Francisco, CA since each year, a portion of Glamour Closet’s profits will be donated to foundations dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s.

http://glamourcloset.com/closet/html/about.asp

In April, daughter ‘A’ and I made a very quick trip to the north end of the Bay Area.  We decided to swing by the  Glamour Closet store and just look around (we had already promised the bridesmaids that we would go dress shopping with them).

Well, daughter ‘A’ found her wedding dress!  No photos of it will be seen until after the wedding, but I will say that the family of another bride-to-be gasped when the curtain was opened.

When the store clerks were told about daughter ‘A’ ‘s grandfather they said that he had a hand in her finding that dress for multiple reasons and we agree:

• the dress was dropped off on a Friday and we were there the following day
• the dress was a sample and had never even been tried on by anyone else
• the dress was smaller that the sizes they usually carry (it needs a couple of tucks taken and a lot taken off the bottom, but we are not surprised by that)
• the cost of the dress was less than her budget

So, if you know someone getting married and you live or are visiting the North Beach in San Francisco, West Hollywood in Los Angeles, River North in Chicago or Chelsea in New York areas I would be grateful if you check out the Glamour Closet store.

I have no connection to this store, but I love, due to first hand knowledge, that they also want to find a cure to Parkinson’s and are donating money to the cause.

Do you have a future wedding in your family?   Later – Heather

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Pepper’s winter sweater

So, before Christmas 2015 I saw this in the local Target ad.

And my first thought was that dog looks like Pepper (our ‘red’ Golden Retriever).  I knew Pepper needed a sweater to keep her warmer when she slept out in the dog house so I went looking the next time I was in the local Target store.

Target was out of the dog sweater that was shown in the ad, but I was able to get Pepper a sweater.

Here she is modeling it.  She definitely doesn’t look as happy as the dog in the ad, but she didn’t complain when we went to put it on her before bedtime.  And I am happy to say that it lasted through the winter and will definitely get more use this coming winter.

Pepper modeling her winter sweater

Do you dress up your pet?

Later – H

Random Conversation

Do you randomly have people start conversations with you?  Well, I had that happen earlier this week when I was in Costco.  A retired man started talking to me about the automated drink vending machines that are now available in the Costco Food Court.  Oh, and if you haven’t seen one work it is pretty cool and yes, I do have nerdy days.

Anyways he starts talking about how computers, etc have changed so much in the last few years and not always for the better.  The funny part about that was I was just thinking about the ‘user friendly’ features on my cell phone like the apps that I have never used, but they keep pushing updates even if I delete them.

The man then said that social media was actually hate media since people were usually complaining about something.  He said he was a veteran and retired fireman so he had seen a lot of bad in this world, but he knew there was a lot more good out there in comparison.  I then told him that a friend and I had started to text each other one good thing each day to try to keep our focus on the good instead of the bad.

His parting comment was he was glad he could talk to me for a few minutes and to keep my smile.

Every day I find myself thinking about that conversation and realize he is so right.  If you just focus on the negative then that is all you will see, but if you are willing to look for at least one positive thing you might surprise yourself and find lots of positive things.

So, my challenge to you is to look for at least one positive thing each day for the next week.  I am hoping your point of view changes after that and you will want to always find something positive to think about.

Oh, and if you think my life is a bed of roses you should know that my positive thing one day was that I had cleaned the refrigerator.  Nothing seemed to be going right that day, but I was very happy to open the refrigerator and see how clean it was.

Let me know if you see a difference after you take the challenge.

Later – H

Curtains made with Grommets

Note:  This is not a sponsored post.  I bought all of the material and the opinions are 100% mine.

When I started to setup the sewing/craft room I used a set of pink curtains I found in the garage.  Since I had painted the room a light green color the curtains gave a horrible tint to the room, but they at least covered the windows until I found a set of curtains I liked.

Temporary curtains

I didn’t find a set of curtains I liked, but I did see this package of Dritz Home Curtain Grommets, in Pewter, at a local fabric store.  I had never used them before and was willing to try.

Dritz Home Curtain Grommets

Next, I had to find the material I wanted.  I happened to be in Walmart one day and saw this material for less than $3.00 per yard.  I bought four yards of the main material and four yards of the white material as the liner.

Since I had never used the curtain grommets before I decided to cut a header and attach the grommets to it and then sew the header to the curtain.  I used a ruler and pen to mark the center of each grommet location and then used the pen to trace the template mark.

Note:  I also decided to stitch the two layers together on the template line so the curtain would not move while I was cutting out the circle.  This step wasn’t mentioned on the package or by the fabric store.

To cut out the circle I made a small cut in the middle and then worked my way out to the outer edge.  The cashier suggested that I cut the hole slightly inside the template mark which was a very good idea.

I followed the package instructions to install the grommets.

To make sure that the edges of the curtains didn’t roll I top sewed about 1/4″ from the edge of the curtains after I had pinned and ironed the edge flat.

When the curtains were done I hung them up and found out that they were not as full as I wanted.

Finished white curtains

So, I went back to Walmart and found that they were out of the white material, but I found a black material with the same pattern on clearance also.

So, I bought a third package of the Dritz Home Curtain Grommet and made two curtains, which were half width that I hung on each side.

Final curtains

I think they turned out really good and I would definitely make more of these curtains.

Some additional information:

– I saw similar packages of the curtain grommets at Walmart.  I think they were for a slightly different size curtain rod and I don’t know if they go together as easy as the Dritz Home package.

– I recently saw similar curtain grommets used to make a tote bag.  She used them as decoration and for the handles to go through.

– I used quilt weight material so I didn’t have to worry about the two layers of material being too thick for the curtain grommets.

– The package of curtain grommets says that the grommets can be removed with a flat screwdriver and that the curtain grommets should not be put through a washing machine, which is another reason I sewed the two layers of material together.

Leave a comment if you have any questions.

What project have you worked on lately?

Later – H

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Word of 2015 – Simplify – #2

If you saw a previous post  ‘Specials Words of 2015’ then you know that one of them is Simplify.

Here is the second project that I did that has simplified an area of my life (which in this case is the corner cabinet in the laundry room).

We use the corner cabinet as an extra pantry area, but it was difficult to keep track of what was stored in there.  For years (and I do mean YEARS) I had a piece of paper taped to the inside of the cabinet with a semi-running list of what was inside.  I knew there had to be a better way.

Last fall, I found a roll of cork sheeting (on Clearance after school started) and cut a piece to fit the inside of the door.  One problem was it didn’t like to lay flat and the second one was I realized I couldn’t nail it to the door, but tape and glue would not make it stay.  So, that came down and I still needed a solution.

 

A few weeks ago, Hand Husband asked if I needed anything from Amazon since he wanted me to order something for him (and then we would qualify for the free shipping).  That is when I remembered seeing the

Fancy-Fix A4 Sized Weekly Planner Blackboard Sticker Memo Removable Vinyl Chalkboard Wall Sticker   

and

SuperChalks White Liquid Chalk Marker Pen (4mm Regular Tip)

I realized the A4 size should fit (or would be easy to cut down) and I liked the idea of liquid chalk (I hate using regular chalk, especially in dry Nevada).

Once they arrived it took me about 5 minutes to have three of the Blackboard Stickers installed.  It was tricky to get the Liquid Chalk Marker Pen to work at first, but then it went on neatly and dried pretty quickly.

 

I also found an idea for a Pantry inventory sheet at Organized Home   Pantry Inventory

that used boxes and ‘/’ to show you have the item and ‘x’ to show when it was used to keep track of the inventory.  I thought that idea was brilliant!   (go check out the free printable at http://Organizedhome.com )

So, I will be taking everything out of the cupboard and writing it down on the sheets when they go back in.  Hopefully then we will be able to keep track of everything.

 

Now, to figure out how to do something similar with the regular pantry (which has bi-fold doors)…

How do you keep track of your pantry inventory?

Later – H

New LG washing machine

Well, the new LG washing machine arrived at the beginning of December, but it didn’t come with LG water inlet hoses. The delivery people connected it to the water inlet hoses we had and started it up (empty) as a test before they left.  Pepper was freaking out!  We hadn’t had a working washing machine for almost a month and the last noises from the laundry room were when the last washing machine was dying (loud, horrible noises).  Pepper was trying to climb up on my lap while I was typing on the laptop!.  (Note: A 60+ pound Golden Retriever doesn’t fit especially when I am trying to balance a laptop computer on it also.)

So, we did a few loads of laundry, but the LG turns the water on and off so fast that we have had water hammering (it makes all of the house water pipes shake in the house) even after I turned down the amount of water coming in.

I did some searching and found out the LG water inlet hoses have to be used (per the manual).  So, I called LG and the water hoses are on order (and probably won’t be here until January).  I also went searching on the Home Depot site and found out there are water hammering arresters that are for going on the back of the washing machine so I bought two of those.

So, for now I am back to doing laundry at the laundry mat and waiting for the LG water inlet hoses to arrive.

I am hoping the problems go away once the new hoses and arresters are installed. I will update when it is back working.

I never realized how much I miss having a working washing machine.

Later – H

 

 

 

Dead front load washing machine

Well, this was going to be a post about how handy husband and I fixed our 12 year old Kenmore Front load washing machine.  One night a couple of weeks ago when it was near the end of the final spin cycle it abruptly made HORRIBLE sounds (turns out the tub was swinging around and hitting the side of the walls and front of the washer).  When handy husband and I took off the back we found that one of the shocks was broken.

So, I did a Google search on the model number and found out that RepairClinic.com had the shocks and a video that showed it was pretty easy to replace.  So, I ordered the parts and we waited.  While I was gone for a few days handy husband got the old shocks out (he said it was pretty easy) so all we would have to do was put the new ones in and start using it again.

The new shocks went in pretty easy and I tested out the machine by rinsing and spinning out a few towels.  It was semi-louder than I remembered, but we thought it was okay.  So, then I decided to wash the towels and a couple of pairs of jeans.  It sounded fine until it got to the end of the spin cycle.  I heard this HORRIBLE noise from the other end of the house.  I went running for the laundry room to turn it off.  I came upon Pepper (the Golden Retriever) in the dining room with her ears pulled back and running for the hall (which she has never been allowed to go down).

We first thought the washer was somehow unbalanced (which was weird since it was never unbalanced before).  So, we added foam between the tub and the sides, but it still was making horrible noises.  (The way Pepper was acting [ears back and wanting to leave the house] should have told us that it was making horrible noises before we could hear it.)

I did a YouTube search and found a video on how to take apart our washing machine.  They discusses that the ‘spider’ which is inside the tub breaks.  Uh, oh.  Between that video and a comment from a friend we decided that was what was wrong.  Since the spider is part of the drum it is very expensive to fix.

So, I went searching (Consumer Reports, Google, etc) and found out that Home Depot had the LG 4.0 Cu. ft. washer (WM3050CW) on Black Friday sale for $579 ($220 off).  To be safe I ordered the 3 year protection plan for $80 (it says they will replace the unit if it is a Lemon).

So, the washing machine is on back order so we are without a washing machine until December 3rd.  I am hoping we only have a few more trips to the laundry mat before it arrives and right now I am so happy that I don’t live too far from the laundry mat.

What appliance have you had to replace recently?

Later – H

 

Bealls and smartphone coupons

Have you heard of Bealls?  I heard from friends that they are ‘big’ in Arizona (and Florida).  Well, they have started opening stores in Northern Nevada.

When they had their grand opening the daughter and I were able to get boots on their ‘Buy One and Get One Free boots and shoes’ sale.  (Oh, and mine are really comfortable and cute.)

 

I signed up for text messages from Bealls.  This last week I got a 30% off ‘coupon’ on my smartphone.  It was good on sale items and for more than one item.  I didn’t think I needed anything, but I saved it anyways.

Well, the husband announced on Saturday morning that he needed some new shirts.  We were going to town anyways so I figured we would stop in Bealls (he hadn’t been in there yet) and see what they had.

 

We found some nice shirts on sale for great prices and a jacket he needed.

So, we bought three shirts and the jacket for $89.  I saved $130 and $36 of that came from my smartphone coupon.  Not bad!

The other advantage was we didn’t have spend time (and money for gas) driving to a bigger city to look for clothes.  Besides, he said he didn’t want to buy shirts from Costco since he would then look like everyone else at work 🙂

And, the old jacket has been relegated to the garage – yay!   (Which is a good thing since one of the pockets ripped when we were walking Pepper this afternoon.)

Where have you been finding great deals?

Later – H