...10.22...Thrifty Thursday...AND...Delicious Vegan Food we ate...

...first of all we voted...it was quite painless only about 20 or so people in line in front of us...

...and it was $1 day at my local thrift store...YAY!...so me and about 10,000 other people went shopping there...haha...it was really crowded...

...but look at all the goodies I found...

...starting at the top...
...an adorable (and new) pair of Christmas gift salt and pepper shakers...
...a Snoopy Christmas plate...both of those will go to Alaska...
...an orange tote...I had a white one just like it but I broke the handle on one side - which pretty much makes a tote useless...so it got recycled...
...a biscuit cutter...or just a round cookie cutter...it has a fancy red handle...it could replace the tin can with both ends cut out that I've been using since we got married (that's what my Mom also used my entire life)...but probably not...haha
...a collector's edition of Sebastian Faulks Birdsong...which I read a few months ago...
...an oak leaf shaped cookie cutter...perfect for some fall cookies...
...an apparently unused clear plastic serving tray...I'll put it up with the Christmas plates for holiday use...we don't have much use for serving trays on a daily basis...haha...
...and finally the star of today's thrifting show...a Wilton silicone mini bundt cake pan...it's really dirty so I'm going to give it a good scrub and also a run through the dishy-washy...

...and another star not pictured here because it's currently soaking in a big glass of bleach...it's a stick blender...and it was also not super clean and the Man said he wasn't going to let it touch his food...haha...

...our current stick blender is on it's last legs...you can see it in this post from the 2014 Family Christmas Party...those babes I'm holding are the teenaged soccer players you've seen recently on the blog...and that one is making a horrible sound and the Man says it's bearings are shot...

...now on to the Delicious Food portion of the post...

...I'm making the Vegan Chocolate Dot Pound Cake...the recipe is posted (of course) back in 2011...but I've tweaked it a little bit more over the years...I'm using the Fiber One cereal this time...

...I got a container of 'pumpkin' out of the freezer...this one is actually butternut squash...but I use them interchangeably...

...this is the new clean (and sterile - I also gave it a bath in isopropyl alcohol after the bleach one...just to put the Man's mind at rest about it...haha) Braun stick blender...it doesn't pop apart for cleaning like the old one...but that's ok...

...one of my tweaks is that instead of using flax seed goo...I use 2 tsp of egg replacer and 2 Tbls of ground flaxseed...

...just giving it a whirr with the new stick blender...

...and also giving the thawed out 'pumpkin' a blend as well...

...since vegan chocolate chips are so difficult to find around here...I'm just chopping up a vegan chocolate bar for the chips...

...and here's a closeup of the shiny-clean silicone bundt cake pan...

...the Man does not want any chocolate chips in his...nor does he like it spicy...so I only put in half the spice and ladled his batter into two of the bundts...

...and then I added the rest of the spice (so my cakes will be like 1 1/2 times spicy which is fine with me and all of the chocolate which is also fine with me...haha)...

...and I had enough batter leftover for FOUR more muffins...all for me...YAY!...and I always put some water into the empty muffin cups the way our 4-H cooking instructor told us to all those years ago...it's really not necessary...America's Test Kitchen did a whole post about it...

...the little bundts baked up perfectly...

...and so did the muffins...

...letting them cool a bit...

...but I'm definitely eating one warm...I so much prefer muffins and cupcakes cooked without the paper liners because you get this wonderful golden crust and it's the best part of any muffin...

...oh my goodness these are so delicious...and perfect for fall...

...one last thing...the Fiber One cereal comes in two little pouches...which gives me an interesting new recycled storage bag...it'll be perfect for something long and skinny...

...what delicious food have you been eating lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...10.1...Thrifty Thursday...

...I stopped by the thrift store for half price day...and guess what they had...you may not know what this is...

...it's a yarn ball winder...I spun the handle at the store and it seemed to be working correctly...

...and it does work perfectly...the little arm moves forward and back as you turn the spindle so the yarn winds up evenly...

...I had fun winding up a few balls of yarn...such a neat (and obscure) find for a knitter...

...I also got (and paid for) the other top two items...a new pack of sidewalk chalk (for the grandbabes - while it may still be warm enough and snowless)...a cute zippered pencil case with a smiley button...and for free I got this large Rugrats t-shirt...not for me...

...it was free because it has a hole under the arm...otherwise in very good condition...Rugrats was a cartoon that Our Airman watched when he was little and in general he likes quirky t-shirts like this...

...what have you thrifted lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...9.9...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...first up...I shrinkified the navy t-shirt that I'd gotten last week to go with the stripey cut off trousers...

...and then my old iPad cover is starting to shed little bits of black stuff...it's some sort of vegan leather covering...and it's at least 10 years old...I don't really use this iPad very much but when I do I don't want bits of it flaking off on me...so I decided to cover it up...

...I made a pattern of course...

...and the first thing I did was cut out and buttonhole stitch an opening for the camera...

...then I lined up the pattern on some fabric from stash...

...cut it out...

...and checked the fit...

...realized that I could see the fabric with the camera...so I made that opening bigger...

...along the hard plastic clip-in edge I hand stitched the fabric in place...

...but all around the rest of it I used my heavy duty Singer sewing machine to slowly stitch where the current stitches were...

...from the inside...

...popped the iPad back in...

...and checked that it would close up and fasten properly...

...and everything works as intended...the cover still functions as it should...

...what's in your workbasket this week?...

~Have a lovely day!

...8.27...Thrifty Thursday...

...there were actually two quick trips to the thrift store this week...I didn't get what I went for (some craft eyes for a stuffy)...but in the freebies were these boxers with a bleach stain...and the elastic waisted trousers...

...and I say trousers...but I think that these started out as one of those jumpsuits with a shirred top with straps...

...and someone hacked off the top of the shirred section including the straps...which is ok with me because I probably wouldn't have worn it like that...all I did was straighten the jagged edge as the fabric won't fray...and I've got a comfy pair of elastic waisted summer trousers...

...so that prompted a second trip...because the only navy top I had (that isn't striped is the Air Force Mom one that I made for the graduation trip to Texas)...so I picked up a plain navy tee...and I spied these two melamine trays for $1 each and thought they'd be fun for TV lunches/dinners as they're kind of a tray and a plate in one...

...gave those a good scrub and a trip through the dishwasher...and used it for a leftovers lunch...on the tray are some leftover alfredo noodz, leftover fries, the last of the chocolate hummus, a bowl of leftover cream of cauliflower soup...and some not leftover edamame...

...what have you thrifted lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...7.16...Thrifty Thursday...

...once again...I had a few things to drop off at the thrift store...so you know what that means...

...only one freebie...this cute cotton shirt...it's my size...and it's got a stain on the right chest area...hoping I can get that out with minimal effort...it doesn't look like it's even beenw washed since the stain was acquired...

...a couple of NIBs...a cute Christmas pillow and some Valentines Day clings...both future gifties...

...and then I got these two restaurant style trays...they'll be handy for carrying 'things'...I'll use them not just for food items...but for crafting things I want to keep together or move from one room to another...or the same way for tools...very convenient...

...and then (for the grandbabes)...these adorable Pottery Barn melamine bowls...

...pink and in perfect condition...what could be better...

...what have you thrifted lately?...

~Have a lovely day!

...6.18...Thrifty Thursday...

...I had some things to drop off at the thrift store...so of course that means that I had a little look-around while I was there...the basket was $1 and I'll just use it for storing something in the garage...

...and I also got some adorable little ceramic fall and Christmas thingies...

...I'll be sending these delightful mini pumpkin/squash and the sweet little knobby plate to Our Airman's Wife for some fall decor in AK...

...and the pretty little poinsetta serving bowls will be perfect for yuletide gatherings and snacks...

...and then when I was checking out these bright pink crocs were in a bin beside the register...so I asked the cashier if she was holding them for someone and she said no that they were just waiting to go back as someone had put them in their cart and then decided not to take them...so I tried them on and they fit me...also $1...so I just about had to take them...I think the camera angle here must be making them look a little too large and clownish...but maybe that's how crocs always look...haha...

...what have you thrifted lately?...

~Have a lovely day!