Thursday 9 August 2012

repurposed wood project



So I had those great little wooden crate things from my work - to see click HERE  
I have had them sitting around for awhile now - some I turned into storage crates but most I tore apart and turned into the following project

Before (and dang it I hate the front door)


 I made a base of  plywood for the top of the stair railing so that I could nail the thin strips of wood that I got from the crates to the top of the plywood they wouldn't stay flat and in place nicely with them just being nailed to the drywall top that was there
As you can see some of this hasn't been aged yet nor has it been sanded down or anything
To see how I age the wood click HERE




 All finished just needs one more coat of poly so I can wipe it and dust it





 Just need to finish the bottom trim now but that is for another day!!


Wednesday 1 August 2012

Time to change up the groceries

I still have other projects on the go or in my head I should say but hey its Summer its busy and I am running out of time so hang in there I shall be creating and destroying and whatever else shortly - i hope!!  :)



Its time for me and mine to get back to eating decently (more) hahah not that we eat alot of junk really, but by the time 5pm rolls around I am usually to tuckered out to cook a big grand dinner - its what you get when you wake up at 2:30 am daily.  So I am revamping my menu for cooking and my snacks YAY ME!!!  ~ not really!   It involves alot more work for me but its more budget friendly ( I hope)  So out goes all those premade handy snacks and in comes baking and menu planning and pre-cooking - so if you have quick easy family faves feel free to share them with me.  (quick and easy being key) 
Step one of my new Snack plan is having Vege and Fruit precut and prepped for the kids in the fridge at all times (cause I dont prep enough fruit and vege at work lol)

Day one! hour one! is going good
Step two is baking which I loathe,   really I hate it!!!  but I shall do it!   tomorrow I make rice Krispi squares bwhahaha thats my big bake, start small right?  no really I do have some other goodies planned but thats the first
My plan is to make lots of each baked good and divide them into portions to last two days - cause I hate it when I bake something and for some reason the last 4 or 5 end up never get eaten. then Freeze the rest , Can you Freeze Rice krispie squares?  guess I will find out.

Dinner plans are using a menu with a few variations for each week.
And..............each grocery run (every two weeks in my house) I plan on doing one Big Cook of one recipe for about 4-6 meals total into the freezer
Todays was Pizza casserole - from the "Big Cook" cookbook   (if your thinking of doing a big cook and dont know where to start I recommend this book and website)
If you fold over the tops of your freezer bags they dont tip over and here is the bonus you dont get crud on the "zipper"





I always keep one out of the freezer for the evenings meal mmmmm
Sooo we shall see how long I stay motivated to keep this up!!!