Do you like paper?  Romantic paper, with vintage images and quotes...

Go visit Lesley at Small Meadow Press~so many beautiful, romantic papers...stationery, cards, and garlands~it's hard to make a small order!!

We got this idea from Kiddley!  The boys had a lot of fun making these (Lamb and Lion still need to add arms and legs, LOL!).

Candles at dinner

Tea for two

Collecting old silver (That spoon with the hole in it?  An egg separator!).

My tips for these:  $2-3 on forks, spoons and knives, $4-5 on serving pieces, and if you find a large set for sell, around $1/piece is about right! 

Crystals in the windows--especially when the sun shines through them!

Cute site!!  Reminds me of the gnome or baby Jesus adventures (someone took a baby Jesus from a yard display during Christmas, then returned him months later with a vacation diary)...

Since I'm in a lavender mood, I chose a teacup to coordinate, LOL!

This is one of my favorites~I "display" it on my buffet year-round.

And, this is what I am doing with the rest of my teacups:

As I photograph each one (a teacup diary!), I am storing them in a hatbox~eventually, these hatboxes will line a high open shelf in my kitchen (currently full of various appliances).  They will still be accessible, just not taking up precious cabinet space!

Right now, many of my teacups are stacked in a cabinet in my kitchen.  I also have some wedged in the buffet and a box or two in storage.  I know it sounds like too much--I had my collection going and then my mom divided her collection between my sister and me.  At some point, I am going to have a china or curio cabinet to safely store them in...

My morning tea:

This Mexican caramel is so good! 

I sent some to my spice swap partner (hmmm...I haven't received my spices from her yet!!) and I forgot to tell her all of it's various uses--it is delicious on ice cream, cake (drizzle it on angelfood cake, with whipped cream), on cookies like these, or my boys' favorite~a spoonful to lick for dessert!    When I was little, there was a Mexican food restaurant that my family liked--they hid little pieces of candy under the chips.  This tastes just like that candy!  I've never found the actual candy, though, even when we've gone into Mexico...

One last pic~I swapped out the candelabra on my table~I had to dust this off, my Mother's Day gift from last year:

Purple--I'm adding touches of purple around my home for Lent.  I've been borrowing ideas for Lent from here and here.  (Thanks for telling me how to create links, Deb!!).  Lamb and Sailor made a chain out of purple construction paper and they've been tearing off a link each day. 

I try to keep my kitchen table clean and decorative. At any time of the day, there might be laundry piled on the couch and toys strewn throughout the living room, but I can look at the table and feel some peace. 

LOL  I'm also kind of like that with anything that I clean --as I move on to other tasks, I'll go back to the (temporary, LOL) "trophy room" and feel the satisfaction of a completed job!   

This is the soap recipe I use--http://www.recipezaar.com/107987

I grate Zote brand soap (you can find it in the detergent aisle) in my food processor.  I also bought a 2-pack of laundry soap for sensitive skin and made "baby" detergent for Pilot--it smells so good! 

One tip:  I start my washer on "warm" and add 2 Tbsp. detergent, to help it dissolve better.  After a couple of minutes, I switch to cold (if I'm doing a cold load) and then add the clothes. 

One bonus of this soap--it ends up costing about 1 cent per load!!

Kat

I've been cleaning out from under my bathroom cabinet--these are the soaps I've found so far (I kind of pick up soaps from various places--now I need to use them!).

I wonder how the (white) lavender would work in my homemade laundry detergent?  I might add it to my next batch!!  BTW, the bowl is a chipped transferware I found (for around $2) at an antique store.  Paula, from Heartyworks, asked me to write a post about antiquing and I am going to attempt to  take pics and document my next trip to the antique stores!

There's a contest at heartyworks' blog (http://heartyworks.blogspot.com/)

If you comment, please let her know you came via my blog! 

I haven't taken on the challenge yet--but I do want to start tracking what I'm spending.  I'd also like to make a spreadsheet and compare prices.  (But, do I have time for this, LOL?!).

Here's a pic of what I bought tonight at Save-a-lot:

$38.11

Now, these groceries are not for a full week, and there aren't many vegetables, because I buy fruits/veggies every couple of days (if I planned and followed a menu, I would buy ahead--otherwise, they seem to go bad before I use them!). 

Tell me what you think about this amount of groceries at that price.  This was my first trip to Save-a-lot and I don't really know how it compares!