Prom Time



Prom Dress I repurposed this year!!  Made a young woman feel beautiful!!!

Well, I decided to take my sewing to a new level this year.  I had a request to make a hunters camoflauge dress for prom.  At first, I was a bit nervous about this.  I had never designed anything.  Hmm.  What to do.

I looked for inspiration on the net.  Saw that prices were over $400 for these types of dresses.  My high school friend did not have this kind of money.  Especially with gas prices the way they are.  She brought me a dress she had worn for winter formal, and asked if I could do anything with it to make it look like the dress she was wishing for. 


This is the dress before!!!

I took apart the bodice and took off all the beads!!!! Then, I reconstructed the bodice.

Here is what it looked like after:




Simply stunning.  She was asked to model all night for her friends.  That is what you get for having a custom made dress at prom. 

Menu Plan Monday 4/18

Ugh!!! Can't believe this month is almost over.  I am grateful to have had a meal plan this month.  It has made my life much easier.  I have been very busy!!  Here is the plan this week:

Monday:  Chicken Broccoli and rice casserole (Using up leftovers from Sun. nights dinner)

Tuesday:  Leftovers

Wednesday:  Pepper steak over noodles

Thursday:  Pork loin

Friday:  Fish

Saturday:  Manwich

Sunday:  Easter dinner--Ham, Twice baked potatoes, asparagus, orange vanilla fruit salad.

Frugal Tip of the Week

I am in love.  Yes, that's right, I am in love.  I am an avid reader, and I recently purchased a NOOK ereader.  I weighed both the pros and cons of all the ereaders on the market and NOOK won.  I am a busy mom.  I take my daughter to and from dance four nights out of the week.  I work outside my home.  I am a student.  The list goes on and on. 



Well, I decided that to limit my trips to the library, I would purchase a NOOK.  My local library allows three ebook downloads at a time.  Many books I would like to read are in this program.  I built a wish list of about thirty books this afternoon.  These will keep me reading for many months.  I also love the convenience of having many different books with me at one time. 



Disclaimer:  Barnes and Noble did not compensate me in any way to write this review. 

Menu Plan Monday 4/4

This week, I am not really sure what meals to plan for.  My in-laws are coming on Wednesday, and my mother in law called to say she has dinners made up she is bringing with her.  I am not sure if I should be happy or scared.  I am used to using lots of spices and her food is rather bland.  I am appreciative though and will not turn down help.  So my menu for the week is:

Monday:  Veggie Beef Soup Crock pot

Tuesday:  Leftovers

Wednesday:  Taco's

Thursday:  Lasagna (Mother in law making)

Friday:  Fish

Sat:  On your own
I will be at a dance competition with my dear daughter all day on Saturday!!  Probably will eat out this day.  See my post on how I eat frugally at a dance competition.

Sun:  Manwiches (Mother in law making)

The week has gotten away from me and recipe for Hawaiian chicken-crockpot

Well, this week has gotten the best of me.  How is it today is Thursday?  Well, I opened up the blog to find that I had lots of comments and I am also featured in this week's recipes on Feeding Four .

This is a big deal for me.  I started this blog just for fun, and it is now evolving into a showcase area on how I live.  The economy and gas prices are part of the equation.  Rising food prices are another part of the equation, but we can not change the prices on items we buy, rather we can change our eating habits. 

I can not tell everyone enough about the importance of a meal plan, but I am sure glad I made one this week.  Tonight was my first evening home all week.  On Monday, I made Hawaiian Chicken.  This recipe was good, but not great.  I think that it was in the crock pot a little long.  I think this recipe would be good with a bit more spice.  It is a bit like sweet and sour chicken.  I used peppers, onions, and pineapple.  I think I just had higher hopes for this dish.  I am planning on making it again and cooking for a shorter amount of time. 

Well, that is what has been cooking in my kitchen this week.  I hope to be able to cook a bit more and bake.  I am having house guests next week.  The dreaded in-laws are coming for a whole week.  I may blog a bit about that, but I am trying to figure out how to feed two more mouths for a week without blowing my budget.  More on that in a later post. 

Hope everyone is having a great week.