Part of the Weeding Out Process

One of my "chores" today was to tackle the kitchen cabinet that houses my cookbooks.  Not that it was really messy, but because I'm trying to weed out things that I really don't need or use anymore -- ya' know, so we won't have to move them.  I wasn't really planning to post about this, but decided it was part of the whole process of moving & I said I would be taking you along on the ride.  This was kind of hard for me because I love cookbooks;  but I had to get realistic about the types of recipes some of these books contain. We just don't eat that way anymore, so they needed to go.

This is the "Before" which really isn't too bad, just a lot of cookbooks!

This is the "After," & I like it!

The first shelf has all of my more healthy eating books (WW, etc), a little basket (I'll show you in a minute), some folders (will also explain those in a few), & my own personal compilation of recipes. 

I have 2 of these folders.

One is for all the manuals of various kitchen appliances.  

The other holds various restaurant menus, any specials that are going on in said restaurant, or any coupons for our favorite pizza places.

This large white binder holds a ton of Weight Watcher recipes that I've accumulated.  There are some real tasty ones!  The large blue binder is my own cookbook with all the recipes I've cut out or downloaded & taste-tested.  They are all in sheet protectors & the binder is divided into the categories that fit our needs.  Believe me, these are not all "good for you or healthy" recipes -- just GOOD!

This little basket is where I keep my coupon booklet, blank recipe cards & protectors, & extra labels, etc.

Now this is my favorite shelf because these are the "goodie" cookbooks. 

This is also where I added this little wire basket that holds my wax bars for Scentsy or Walmart's brand.  They look cute & smell good!

This shelf holds some of my older cookbooks, lots of cookie books, & ones I just couldn't part with.

The bottom shelf is a good place for my bread & fruit baskets.  You'll also see I have the disposable plastic gloves.  I have this aversion to handling raw meats or cutting onions & garlic with my bare hands, so I always put these on.  Yeah, yeah, I know I'm just a bit strange, but I'm okay with that!

Okay, here is what I'm getting rid of.  I feel good about this.  They will be going to our local Friends of the Library for their little bookstore.  I definitely feel good about that!

I guess that wraps it up for this time.  Thanks for stopping by & please come again soon.

CAS

I am happy to link up to:

Organizing Mission Monday

WOW Us Wednesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Inspiration Friday

Fridays Unfolded

Wicked Awesome Wednesday

Someone You Should Meet

Hey everyone.  Kind of keeping things on a low key for a few days -- too many things going on.  But I did want to share a Blog with you.  I met Maria Elena at Cottage Living From Beach To Burbs last week when I was poking around some "new-to-me" blogs, & fell head-over-heels for her blog.  Little did I know at that time just how nice the lady behind the blog was going to be.  You know how you just feel an instant connection (at least I did) with someone, & that has happened with many, many of you (again, at least for me)?  Well, that's how I felt about Maria Elena as soon as she responded to my comment on her blog.  We are at opposite ends of the US -- she's in NY & I'm in AZ -- but I just like her so much.  Anyway, she's a new blogger & has already reached 100 followers (wow, that goal took me forever) & is having a Give-Away.  It's something really cute that I know all of you (and me) would love to receive.  So please go visit, you will quickly see why she reached this number so quickly.  Good luck everyone.
CAS

Busy Monday!

Have a lot on my plate today, so will probably just stick with this weekly party post from MEET ME ON MONDAY.  If something else of interest pops up, I will for sure post about it.  If you look closely, you will see that I have been "Featured," but you will also see that it is totally random -- like in, I didn't do anything super special -- but it's still FUN!

Meet Me On Monday!!

Welcome to the 40th edition of "Meet Me On Monday!" Blogging  is a funny thing...we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read  and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, "who is  this person!?"  I know them...but yet I don't know them!  I want  to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great  way for all of us to "meet" each other!

Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you  questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we  can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!

Since there are so many creative Meet Me On Monday posts, I have decided to use the Random picker to select one winner each week to be featured!

This weeks random winner is:



"An Oasis in the Desert"

Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them  better!!  Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!!







Question #2 (Do you scrapbook) compliments of Helen at
A Crafty kind of Truffle   Thanks Helen!!!

If you have a question suggestion please email me at: nevergrowingold@hotmail.com and if I use your question I will give you a shout out!  

Questions:

1.  Crunchy or soft tacos?
2.  Do you scrapbook?
3.  Do you take any daily medications?
4.  What is your favorite sound?
5.  Where were you born?
---------------------------------------------------------------
My Answers!

1.  That would be crispy, please.  The Man & I have a favorite restaurant

in our little town called Mi Rancho, & they have the best Hispanic    

food.  They make a taco that is a folded, but crispy little delight.

2.  Oh, yeah!  Big time scrapbooker & cardmaker!  I hang out in my

craft/sewing room a lot.

3.  Heck yes!  Isn't that part of being "over 40" & finding out that reality

checked in when you weren't looking?  Don't freak out, these aren't 

all prescription medications & not all mine.  There are lots of vitamins

in these containers, too.

4.  The sweet sound of a child's laughter, or in this case, giggles!  Flynn

has always been full of laughter, giggles & smiles.

5.  Louisiana, ya'll!  Lived there until I was 12, then my family uprooted

and moved to Oregon.  Talk about a "culture shock"!  I had to work 

hard to lose my very southern accent because my new peers were

merciless.  AZ is now our home, but I find the southern "drawl" &

expressions have resurfaced big time since I started blogging & seem

to have many, many southern bloggy friends.  I love it, but some of

my local friends look at me with a raised eyebrow at some of the 

words that flow from my mouth.  Love that, too.

West Monroe, to be exact. 

This is really a fun way to meet new people & really get to know them before you even explore their blogs.  You should check it.  Thanks for stopping by and please come again soon.

CAS

Super Easy Dessert

I've been walking past this cake all day, remembering how delicious it was last night when I made it.  So I decided I needed to share the super-simple, but very good recipe.  I don't make desserts just for us very often, but when I do, I try for something that isn't too calorie or fat laden, if you know what I mean.  This is a low-fat chocolate cake.

I know, tsk,tsk,tsk, but I didn't know last night that I would be sharing the recipe.  Geeez!  At least there are only 2 pieces missing, so we restrained ourselves.

All you need:

Boxed cake mix (this was a Duncan Hines Devil's Food), but it's your choice

1 cup of water

3 eggs

1/2 cup applesauce (I used sugar-free)

Just put it all together in a bowl & mix it thoroughly.  I didn't want to pull out the KitchenAid, so I just used my Cuisinart Stick Mixer.  That thing really whips it up, which I think made it extra fluffy after it was baked.  You can put it in whatever size dish you prefer.  I used a 9X13 sprayed it with Pam, & baked at 350* for about 40 min.  Ovens may vary, so adjust your time accordingly.  I let it cool while we had dinner & then spread the top with Sugar-free (sweetened with Splenda) canned Cherry Pie filling.  Of course, I also added a dollop of Lite Cool Whip to each serving.  This was so good.  Even The Man liked it & he's not much of a cake-eater.

ENJOY!!!

CAS

Linking to:

Saturday Nite Special at Funky Junk Interiors

Just a spiffin' and polishin' today!

Hey everyone.  I don't have much time for bloggin' today 'cause I'm busy getting the house all spiffed & shined for an Open House tomorrow.  But....I needed a break & some iced coffee to get powered up again.

I've made a major discovery!  Ya'll know I've said many, many times that I shouldn't be buying anything because we will just have to move it.  Well, on the surface, that makes total sense, but that logic is really lost on me.  I like to shop & when I see good buys on things I like, how can I resist?  My big discovery is my way of circumventing this logic.  Here it is, are you ready--  "I am buying it for the new house."  Now that is logical thinking, don't you agree?

Anyway, I was out & about on Wednesday, killing some time before my hair appointment.  Ross's & Marshall's are right on the way to my salon, so I popped in.  Ross's was my first stop & I never know what I might find there.

Love this small plate with the shells around the edge.  It actually has a bit of a shabby finish so it isn't pure white.  I likey!   I likey the price of $3.99, too!  I can just see it with a candle in the middle, sitting on the counter in the guest bath of the NEW HOUSE!

Love this, too!  It's going to be perfect holding my dish-soap on the kitchen counter of the NEW HOUSE!  It's so colorful.  Great price of $4.99.

My next stop was Marshall's.  I almost walked past this "gem" because it was sitting on a bottom shelf, but my brain quickly registered what I was looking at & I snagged it.  For all you "cloche lovers" out there, I think this was a super find.  Love everything about it, especially the price of $7.99.  Can you believe that?  I'm not sure exactly where in the NEW HOUSE it will be going, but I know I will find the perfect place or 3 or 4.  LOL!!!

 Yesterday I had to pick up a few groceries at Walmart.  One of my stops is always the candle section.  After Liz at Savvy Seasons mentioned these wax burners, I had to check them out.  I have been using Scentsy products for a few years now & love them, but I really wanted another one for our bedroom that fit better in the budget.  I scored this little lovely.  I do prefer the Scentsy bars as they last a lot longer.

I love that these & the Scentsy ones use a low wattage light bulb that melts the wax.  This way I can turn them on in the morning & leave them on all day without worrying about flames & fire!

I put this one on a square deco plate with some potpourri chips around it.  Love how this looks.  I'm using Citrus Twist wax in this one.  It smells great!

Alrighty then, it's time I got back to my "Cinderella" duties of spiffin & polishin'.  Thanks for stopping by & hope you have a great weekend.

CAS

I'm linking to:

Stuff and Nonsense

At The Picket Fence

Fresh and Frugal  

Thrifty Things Friday

A Few of My Favorite Things

Table Top Tuesday
Whatever Goes Wednesday

Revisiting An Older Post & Moving Forward

Hey everyone & happy Wednesday.  Hope your day is going great!  I was up at my usual "o'dark-30" morning time, just doing some blog hopping & catching up on parties, when I discovered a cute party going on at Delightful Order and wanted to share my  "My Play Room" post from many months ago.  If you have a craft or sewing room & are looking for some clever & fresh ideas, go check this out.

Well, I shared a couple of days ago that I was going to move forward on some projects that I had put "on hold" because our house is for sale.  I made my list & have started working.  Thought I'd share a couple of pics of what I'm going to be working on.

This is how I sort & store my fabric projects.  These are lidded drawers that snap close so nothing falls out if I want to move it from one location to another.  Most of you know me by now--each drawer is labeled with whatever project is inside.  There are 7-drawers altogether (got them at Target) & the unit is on wheels.  I have another one of these that holds my scrapbooking projects & there is a drawer for each grandchild & one for all the rest of us--I have my priorities straight, huh?  LOL!!!

This is a quilt for one of the grand twins.  All the pieces are cut & labeled, & any leftover fabric is in a zip bag in case I mess something up or maybe I'll want to make a teddy bear to go along with the quilt.

This is the quilt for the other twin.  I kind of work on these simultaneously.  You can see I've already started the piecing process, but at the end of the day, I just lay everything back inside these drawers.  That way it's easier to keep thing tidy & not lose any pieces.

This will be the next project which is a summer skirt for me.  Isn't this fabric a beautiful color?  It's a gauze material so it will be so comfy for hot weather.  It's already cut out, & the thread & elastic are under the fabric.

The next project on my priority list is a Christmas tablerunner, probably for me.  I made several of these last year for other people & decided I'd like to have one.  I am making it with the intention of using it in the new house.  I always put filled bobbins & spools of thread in each of these drawers so I don't have to dig around for the right color thread.

So, aren't you glad you stopped by?  Well, I'm very glad you did and hope you pop in again very soon.

CAS

I'm happy to be linking to:

Organizing Mission Monday

Fabric Tuesday

Get Your Craft On Tuesday

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Meet Me on Monday

Never Growing Old

Questions:

1.  What jewelry do you wear 24/7?
2.  Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it?
3.  How many siblings do you have?
4.  Were you named after anyone?
5.  Coke or Pepsi?
---------------------------------------------------------------

My Answers!

1.  My wedding ring, but I do take it off at night so I can slather on hand cream.

     Don't you just hate trying to clean "gunk" out of rings?  Then, if you take it

     to the jeweler for cleaning, they look at you all weird-like & make you feel

     you should be apologizing.  Well, okay, maybe that's just me!  LOL!!!

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=330

2.  Twirling, of course!  Sometimes there is a bit of ? , but you don't want to 

     know about that.  Do you?  No, seriously, you don't.  It may be polite in

     some cultures, but it's kind of disgusting after the age of 2.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=151

3.  One, but she is no longer in my life.  Very sad, but true & her choice, not 

       mine.  That's definitely a story for another Blog, & I haven't decided to do

     that, yet.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2026

4.  No, but  I'm glad I wasn't named after anyone in my family--Ruth, Clara,              

     Edith, Erma, Roberta -- ah, no, don't think so!  Please, anyone out in    

     blogland with one of these names, don't take offense.  I'm just saying       

     that I don't think those names would have worked well for me.  OIY!!!  I

     hope I haven't offended anyone, but we are being honest here, right?

5.  Coke, or rather Diet Coke or Coke Zero.  The Man prefers Pepsi, so when we 

     share, I go with Pepsi & sometimes he goes with Coke.  Just a little give &      

     take, even with the small things, keeps things on track for marital bliss!

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=809

Once again, probably more than you wanted to know.  But I thank you for stopping by and hope you'll come again soon.

CAS

What's Blooming?

Hey friends!  Hope ya'll are off to a wonderful start to the week.  Yesterday was a bit overcast here, & we're due for some hefty winds; but the lighting seemed like it might be good for some photos of the things that are blooming around here.  I am really trying to increase my photography skills & one day, hope to have one of those great DSL cameras.

I haven't planted anything new.  Everything has been here at least since last Fall & some things are a couple of years old.  You just never know what is going to last here through the summer.

I love this faux"ironstone" planter.  I'm so amazed that the lobelia came back to life after the few straight days of freezing weather we had.

Love yellow mums!

Hibiscus

So majestic-like.

This is our Weeping Bottle Brush that sits in the front flower bed.  It is just starting to bloom.

Easy to see why it's called a"Bottlebrush".

Busy bee doing his thing!

Beautiful Bougainvillea.  And yes, this is the true color.  I love the stamens.

The Petunias & Allysiums are lush.  

I really need to do some dead-heading on the petunias, huh?

It would be so great if we had "smell-a-blog" because citrus blossoms are totally permeating the air right now.  This one is a Meyer Lemon.

This dove was sitting very regally on the pergola as I was taking photos & stayed long enough for me to get this great shot.

A thing of beauty.

I will be happily linking this to DebbieDoos-Monday's Newbie Party.  This will be my last time to link to Debbie's Party because my time in Blogland will reach 6 months in just a couple of days.  I thank you, Debbie, for coming up with this brilliant idea.  You have given so many of us such a wonderful venue for expanding our exposure here in blogland & increasing our Followers, all of which means making more friends.  You are a very special lady, & I feel honored to say you are my friend.

 

I am also linking to:

Sunday Showcase-Under the Table Dreaming

Sundae Scoop-I Heart Naptime

Today's Flowers-Flowers From Today

 BNOTP-Metamorphosis Monday

Dittle Dattle-Amaze Me Monday

Thanks everyone for stopping by and please come again soon.

CAS