Movie Date

Towns all over the US are revitalizing their vintage movie theaters and using them once again to show movies.

Some show vintage movies (like Casa Blanca or Gone With The Wind).  Some play foreign films (like The Music of Strangers or Our Little Sister).  Other have 'modern classics' (such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Saving Private Ryan).  And there are ones with family movies (such as National Velvet or Toy Story).

Many do a mix of genres.

The Roxy is doing a mix modern classics and family, alternating every other Sunday.

It's a great old theater and is also used for stage productions.

Team Red, White, & Blue took a block of tickets for one of the family showings.

Waiting for the show to start.  We were right at the end of our Whole30 program... so no refreshments for us.  Smelling that hot buttered popcorn was killer.  Box candy, popcorn, and sodas are all $1 each.

While I couldn't have any sweets... I had my Sweetie.  That was more than good enough!

Ghee That's Good!

As I said recently, on our Whole30 program ghee (similar to clarified butter) is allowed.  That is because ghee has no milk proteins.  It's used widely in Italian, Middle Eastern, and Indian cooking.  And it is better than butter for frying.  Butter's smoke point is 392*F while ghee heats all the way to 482*F (higher than a lot of oils).

It can be expensive to buy but is SO easy to make.  All it takes is a crock pot and containers to put your ghee into!  When selecting containers, you need something with straight sides (canning jars just aren't the thing although they do work) and a lid.

As with most things, the better the product you start with, the better finished product you will end up with.  But considering this was an experiment ~ I wasn't keen on possibly ruining a few pounds of expensive top-shelf butter.

I went to Sam's...

So four pounds of butter went into the crock pot.

I set the temperature on High and let it go (NO lid).  The recipe I was following warned the first time doing this to keep an eye on it as some crock pots take only 3-ish hours and others can take up to 6 or 7 hours.

Took a while for it to come to a boil.  That is when the foam started forming.  Those are "impurities".  I don't even want to know what they are...

Getting thicker...

FINALLY the foam is starting to brown.  

You let it keep going until the foam AND the solids at the bottom are a toasty brown.  It will smell soooo good.  Once browned, turn off the crock pot and let it cool just a bit.  Seems my crock pot is the 6-7 hour variety.  I should have let it brown more but it was getting late.  Time to be done.

Strain the ghee through a sieve lined with cheesecloth by ladling it from the crock pot.  Skimming most of the foam off the top makes it a neater job.  

When you get to the solids at the bottom be prepared to see some major funky looking stuff.  I tried straining it out too but it clogged the cheesecloth way too fast.  Next time I'm not worrying about getting every single drop of ghee.

And here is our finished ghee.  So easy and so tasty that this will become a staple in our home.

Air-Layering: How To Get a Free Plant

Our last bonsai meeting had a really interesting class... one that was useful for anyone who likes to garden.  We learned how to 'air layer' a plant.  

Short version is that you can make roots grow from a branch of a woody plant.  Once the roots have come in, you cut it away from the original specimen and plant as normal.  Examples of plants that air layer well are rhododendron, azalea, holly, nut trees, fruit trees, citrus trees, roses, forsythia, boxwood, bald cypress, and many types of maple.

This is the demonstration tree.  That long trunk makes it a not good specimen for bonsai.

However...the top and the bottom would make good trees.  Seriously.

To start, get some sphagnum moss (the type for orchids is great) soaking in a bucket.

Now back to the tree.  You find the point where you want roots.  You MUST have leaves growing both above and below where you cut.

You take a sharp blade and cut carefully through the first 3 layers of bark, going all the way around the area.  Then you repeat about an inch below your first cut.

Then you scrape off the bark between those two cuts.  Go all the way down to the white wood part.

Next step is to take a piece of wire and tightly twist it around the middle of your scraped area.

Once done, heavily brush the area with rooting hormone.  Make sure it is the type for woody plants.

Take out a handful of the moss and sprinkle a bit of rooting hormone in the middle.

Then you wrap this wad of moss around the cut area of the tree and then wrap some cling wrap tightly around the moss and branch/trunk.  Make sure the wrap is above and below the moss.  Make a few small slits in the bottom of the cling wrap.

(An extra set of hands is very useful for this part...).  

Once it is wrapped, you then wrap a layer of foil around it for darkness.

Form a little cup at the top of the foil to capture moisture.

In about 8 weeks you should have little roots.  You can take the foil off to have a peek.  

Once you have a nice glob of roots going, cut it away from the parent.  Plant your new tree/bush in a nursery pot and take care of it until next spring. 

In the spring you will need to repot or plant it.  At that time you take off the wire and gently tease the sphagnum moss away from the now sturdy roots before you replant.

Finally... admire your new plant!

I'll be using this method on a lovely Japanese maple we have in the front yard.  It has some branches that need to be pruned.  Instead I will air-layer them and have new trees!

I Get Free Money

Every week I am handed free money and I keep it in this file.

Where does it come from?

Coupons.

They come to me through the mail... in my magazines... on my computer.

I get coupons from stores I regularly shop at like Michaels and Kohls and Harbor Freight.

We rarely eat a meal at a restaurant chain without using a coupon.

My file fits easily in my purse so I am always ready to use them.  This case has 13 slots with 12 tabs.  I keep the coupons behind their tab which leaves the first slot open.  This area I use to keep the soon to be expired coupons.

It takes me about 10 minutes a week to clip the coupons (I ONLY clip ones for products we use) and to go through each slot to pull out the expiring coupons.  And each week I will use about $8 of coupons.  On a good week I can save $25 or more on my purchases.

This little 'home kit' is a real money maker!

EHC Project: Dry Erase Frame

Our Homemakers "make and take" project was the easiest one yet.  

We did a small dry erase board using an 8 X 10 photo frame.  For the project we used Dollar Tree frames, which worked but it would have been better with a wider frame such as the one I used above.

I'd found about 4 patterns of frames for the ladies to chose from.

Then they picked out what ribbon they wanted to use.

Next was deciding what sort of embellishments to use.

A trip to the hot glue gun and it is ready to take a note.

So easy!

Kitty Treasure

Every spoiled kitty needs a big pile of toys to play with and a place to keep them.

I had this 'treasure chest' among my containers to upcycle for my studio.

Look at all the kitty toys... and there are only two in there that have been bought.  The rest are made or found.

Her first toys... her 'knots'.  The pink one was given to her by a judge at the cat show where we adopted her.  The rest are from fabric leftover when those lounging pants of mine caught fire.

She gets really excited when she sees these toys.  They are the plastic 'tabs' that come from a milk jug handle when it does get popped out.  She sends them all over like tiny hockey pucks!

In the "who would have thought it" category.  A strap that came around a pile of catalogs from Restoration Hardware.  She likes to hide this under a plastic bag to pounce on.

Foil balls... good for a few rounds of kitty soccer.

A wadded up Instant Breakfast envelope that missed the trash can... now the purrrfect dodge ball.

A shell piece stolen off my dresser.  Make noise + slide far = great fun.

Ditto for the ink cartridge cover.

Good for chewing and swatting.

Another favorite to chew on.

She does have three purchased toys.  A feather wand that is the absolute favorite toy (that stays in my desk drawer so it won't get shredded).  And two little mice and a fuzzy 'bug' that I had to pick up when I forgot to bring toys for her on a trip.

"Hey Mom!  What are you doing with my treasure chest?"

"There better not be anything missing!"

A New Table Setting

About 10 years ago Himself was going through a bout of dish breaking.  Seemed at least once a week a dish would hit just wrong in our enameled iron sink and shatter.

Our stack of dishes was dwindling rapidly!

So I headed over to Dollar Tree to pick up 14 new ones.  My thought was that I wouldn't care when the cheap ones were broken.

For NINE years that man did not break another plate!

Then last year we each broke one.  And that is when I realized I was hoping more would break...

I was so, so tired of my dishes.

In October I was back at Dollar Tree purchasing the plates and bowls for my Homemaker's Club cake stand project.  As I looked over the selection, bells rang and the angels sang...

I found a set I loved!!

However I was really in a hurry and leaving in two days for our trip to MN.  I reasoned that I could get them when I got home as they had just been set out.

Two weeks later, the beginning of November... they were all GONE!  Cue the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Dropped back in to Dollar Tree last week to pick up some little thing.  I decided to make a pass through dishes to see if some new had come in that I liked.

My dishes were back!

Himself told me to load up the buggy (he likes them too).  I have a full set now plus a few to make some serving pieces with.

Cue the angel choir!!!

EHC Project: DIY Tea Light Lamp

This month I took over the Presidency of my Extension Homemakers Club.  One of the things I'm doing is having a 'make and take' activity at the end of the meeting.  Something cute, fast, and inexpensive.  

The first project was this wine glass votive candle lamp.

I set up a table will all sorts of choices for their candle lamps.

You start by printing off the lampshade pattern.  You get it at:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/craft-ideas/how-to/a19133/candle-lampshade-craft/ 

I then used the paper pattern to make a cardboard pattern.

Just trace it onto your paper of choice.  The thicker the paper, the better it works.  My thin scrapbook paper was OK, the card stock weight was better.  Wall paper would probably be good, especially the textured stuff.

You can get two shades from one 12x12 piece of paper.  Once you cut them out, you curl it around and use a piece of double stick tape to secure the sides together.

The only other thing you need is a wine glass and a battery operated tea light.  Both of these came from Dollar Tree.  The tea light was 2 for a dollar.

There were several types of wine glasses at the store I visited.  Or you can use glasses you already own since the glass is not altered in any way.

You drop the tea light in like so...

And pop your shade on.

If you have deckle scissors, you can make a decorative edge.  Or put some trim around the edges.

You can even stack one shade on top of a contrasting shade.

This craft was a smash hit and only cost right at $2 each for all the supplies.

Great to add to a shelf or the dinner table when you have company.