Yay for saving change and getting a coffee maker

Confession…I spend $1-$3 a day on TO-GO coffee, not even decent sit down and enjoy coffee, just quick gas station or drive through coffee.
And yes I am sort of embarrassed by that fact when I think of what we could do with another say $50 a month so I decided to get this coffee maker as an early birthday present for myself since if I even save $1.50 a day between now and my birthday (53 days away) I will have paid for this 3x over.

Also it is harder to resist impulse candy purchases when going to the gas station for coffee than it is when I am at a grocery store…if I save even $5 a week on sugary purchases I won’t just be healthier but $30 richer by my birthday.
I posted on here last month about making a change bank from a painted jar and I saved over $1 a day so I paid for this new gadget with just the change I had saved in the last 18 days (the coinstar plus more change I didn’t add to it)
I am saving up again til my birthday Dec 7th so I should have more I hope.  I may put it towards an Amazon gift card via coinstar because 10.9% service charge is too much to spend so unless it is going on a gift card for no counting fee I am going to roll my change and take it to the bank next time.
My goal in the next 53 days is to save $75.

Skirts

A month or 2 ago I had 1 sheer black skirt, one old red one in need of an honorable retirement and one purple velvet one that use to be s dress (and started life as a curtain panel) all of which I had when I was 463 and had taken in to the point of them no longer fitting right at all.
I have had amazing thrift and clearance luck lately and I now have about 10 more really great flowing long skirts (not made by me from sheets like my old huge ones)
There is only one problem:  8 of them are too big and need taking in at the waist. 
The thing is my waist is still much smaller than my hips (a size large to 1x waist and at least 2x hips) and because I want really comfortable and very flowing skirts, and because at $5 and under I kind of am more than willing to take the waist in 2 to 4 inches on 2x and 3x skirts.
I now need to get serious and fix the waist lines on 8 skirts. Mind you it will be worth it because over all it is a very simple fix, I love the skirts and I really need them.
I even bought two of one skirt and I have plans to alter one of them to make it very different but for $5 I couldn’t have bought even the fabric for it.
I am finally accepting this is the size I will probably stop losing at (185 to 200) and I will work hard to stay at this size if it is as low as my body chooses to go. 
Today I was 283, this means that from my high weight I have lost 280 pounds….2 average American women’s worth of weight. 
I also realize that I deserve to enjoy good clothing and if all it takes is 10 mins a skirt to have perfect fitting skirts then it is worth the effort because so am I.

Refashioning my wardrobe

I finally accept that this (185-205) is the size I will most likely stay at and that I have been largely putting off reworking my wardrobe partly out of hope that my size would change more but also out of laziness and now it is time to get a wardrobe that reflects my actual tastes and not just any old thing that fits me.
So I have decided to rework, recreate, upcycle, selectively add to and alter my wardrobe to fit the image in my head and to use the many items of clothing I have that are too big for me or don’t fit how I wish or the items of clothing and material I have that are either amazing but not put together how I want or that have small flaws as well as the used or clearance items I find that have amazing parts/material and/or are the wrong size.
I guess the way I can refer to this style is Artistic Gothic, neo-Boho fantasy dystopian gypsy…
Imagine some of the elements in these images but in deep dark rich colors and materials.

Longer, fuller and black

Good way to fix some too short high/low skirts

Over dress made of black spiderweb lace

A way to make some of the tops I like into baby doll dresses

Another way, will also work on printed Ts that are too big or too small

I like arm warmers and these are very different

Spats

More baby doll dresses which I love

Ways to adapt sweaters and lace

Skirts

Sort of the overall look I have in mind

My personal rules for eating at a buffet after WLS or on a diet

Ask your surgeon’s office if they have a card defining you as a WLS patient and asking that you be allowed a discount on buffets or to be allowed to order Alan carte or off a kids menu.  Golden Corral lets me pay as if I was 8-12 years old $5.95 for dinner….a few others do a 25% discount.
I have forts very good at eating right at a buffet and haven’t over done for the last 7-8 times.
My tricks with buffet are:
Find the small dessert size plates
It is better to fill 3 small plates with a few bites each than to over fill a big one.
Sit with your back to the food, studies prove you will eat less
As usual, protein first, be careful of sauces which can both upset your stomach and pack in sugar. Don’t put anything but protein on your first small plate, then check out steamed veggies or mixed veg/protein dishes.
Sit as far from the food as possible so you have to walk farther and are less likely to graze.
If you decide to have dessert do not bring a whole piece back with you, I allow myself half tiny square of fudge and about 2 bites of carrot cake and take a clean knife and cut a piece of fudge right there at the counter and only take a tiny bit off the tip of the cake..where the least amount of frosting is.
Eat slowly…very very slowly, I was screwing this up on about every 4th time and throwing up…and I know exactly what does it each time, I’d go too fast and then tell myself “I am full but a few (5) strawberries won’t hurt” HA! The minute you feel full you are DONE
If you go with friends take a note book and doodle or make notes or lists between plates of food and chat with them so they don’t feel rushed and forced to cut their meal short and so it slows you down.

Cheese

I love clearance deals…clearances are like the happy flash mob of sales Today I got bricks of cheddar and Mozzarella cheese at winco for about $1.67 a pound (half price) because they needed to be used or grated and frozen this week…bought 7.6 pounds for under $14 and pulled out my handy food processor and with 30mins of minor effort I have 7 bags of grated cheese in the freezer. Stocking up high protein stuff for my recovery that is easy to cook and eat.
I made BBQ chicken, some soup with a small roast, Buffalo chicken (red hot with a little ranch and mozzarella cheese on top)
I am going to make some peanut chicken bites, some salsa chicken, some chicken Alfredo with tofu in the sauce and cook a ham, make some into a ricotta egg bake with ham and some cheese soup with ham and the rest is for a few big casseroles for Alex and Tenney (sort of a roommate/neighbor) and I have a small beef roast and will make some beef stroganoff sauce with mushrooms and sliced onions.

Living an upcyled life

So I really do believe in recycling and upcycling and in talking to a lady who writes about it for a living I realized that easily 90% of all our furniture were either given to us or purchased 2nd hand or are items purchased 1st hand over 15yrs ago and have been in use ever since.  I am not ashamed to say that almost all of our chairs were rescued from beside the dumpster at our old place. 
Of the items we have that were bought new most of them are folding tables, 4 folding chairs, half of our bookcases and most of my storage racks but again these are the things we will use for a very very long time.
A good portion of my decor is either upcycled and altered or at least 10yrs old and likely to be owned much longer. 
Many of my all time favorite clothing came to me 2nd hand and I reuse material over and over, garments get altered as my size changes or they wear out and I often use the remaining material in craft projects and decor.
A good portion of my art work is upcycled and repurposed and I reuse and upcycle containers on a regular basis.
The thing is most people who have been to our home will tell you that it is comfortable, looks great and that our furniture is good quality over all.  Yes it has taken me time to be willing to give up and pass on pieces that were no longer what I wanted and to figure out how to make other pieces work with my stuff (mostly via covers) but a few good thrift purchases and hand me downs later and we have stuff we can be proud of in more than one way.

My Day of the Dead bathroom

Some pictures of the bathroom, since we can’t paint I can’t do the walls the warm earthy colors I want (caramel and rust) so just added decor.
A few years ago I did a Day of the Dead art instillation and some of this is left over from that, including these paintings.

Also I had made a bunch of plastic and foam painted sugar style skulls and now I have turned them into a mobile with the use of memory wire bracelets and some crystal suncatchers I made earlier this year.  I made a catch all using a clear shoebag cut down due to a lack of storage.

Between the mirror and the wall was just enough space to put these tin tiles I got on clearance at Michaels for $.25 each.  They fit perfectly and needs no adhesive.  The bracelet holder is a wrought iron paper towel holder and the silver and crystal swans I got for $.50 at a yard sale.  The silver and crystal jam jar set was a give away from a friend and holds q-tips and toothpicks.

The rag and hand towel holder is a small cake rack from the same wrought iron set as the bracelet holder and it has octagon salad plates on it to hold black and grey rags and a hand towel made from Halloween material from an old skirt.
The black glass skull was a votive candle holder but now has baking soda with scented oil in it and the hair clip is part of my collection I have hanging on a strip from an old loose weave sweater.

Earrings, hair stuff and pins are on the strip of dark red material while necklaces are on push pins that have rhinestones glued to them.  Beside the door are 3 embroidered sugar skulls stretched over dollar store frames.
One the floor are burgundy and purple bathmats I made by folding towels in half and sewing around them then across them.

Banana cake using a cake mix

Today I got a bunch of over ripe bananas for $.32 a pound and since they are best for cooking and smoothies I grabbed 4 pounds and decided to use a couple of cake mixes I had to make some banana bread cake for mom and grandma and for game tomorrow.
I adapted the recipe from about 3 I saw on line and sort of winged it.

Banana cake: (5 loaves)
2 butter yellow cake mixes (next time I am trying butter pecan or french vanilla)
2 cups of milk
6 eggs
6 very over ripe bananas mashed
1 small packet vanilla pudding mix
1/3 cup brown sugar

Mix the bananas, milk, sugar and pudding together with the beaters until creamy
Pour the mix and eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the liquid mix and beat until well mixed.
oil 5 average sized loaf pans (you can make a couple of cakes or cupcakes with this) and half fill with the mix.
Cook on 350* until golden brown and test by poking with a knife until it comes out clean (30 mins for me this time)

Enjoy (this has a lovely sweet an somewhat buttery taste)

To do list #1

Listing my “TO DO” list online seems to work best for me getting stuff done, maybe it is accountability, who knows?

Between now and when I need to clear out the front room Saturday at 3pm my goals are:

Soak the new Crockpot I got at the thrift store along with the others that I already have.
Unload the dish washer and reload with the crocks, keep up on the dishes.
Sweep and wash the kitchen floor with bleach. Test a few methods for cleaning dingy vinyl floors.
Go through all the spices, herbs and seasoning blends, discard stale stuff and put the rest in the spice rack bottles, label.
Set up one large box and put all of the loose stuff in the art room in it and take it in the front room to sort it out into types.
Sort for at least 2 hours even if it is in 15 minute increments.
Take new comforter I got at the thrift store today to laundry mat to tumble on low with some fabric softener sheets and get lint off of it.
Pack it away.
Start a bin/box just for Halloween stuff.
Make a small meat sauce AND another small crock of refried beans for dinner on Saturday.
Take the paintings and art off of the front room walls and carefully pack them away.
Pack up blank canvases also.

OK let’s see what I can get done in the next 68 hours

NOTE #1 (3:30am Thursday)
So far I have cleared some of the pile of stuff in the studio
Sorted through and bottled spices
Dishes and all the crockpots
Made a large cold tuna pasta salad for Alex to eat off of today and friday so I don’t have to cook much
Brought the boxes in
Made labels for Halloween boxes on the computer
Tried a method for getting the vinyl floor less dingy (towel soaked in very hot water with bleach and soap then laid on the floor for an hour then scrubbed up…next time more bleach)
And made my own fabric spray with a little fabric softer, water, baking soda and a few drops orange oil…shake and spray
Now off to run the comforter through a dryer to get lint off it and take a walk with my husband.

Cool canister from protein bottle

I am going to use my 70″ dark wood bookcases as a pantry in the new kitchen.  We have a very ugly but very effective sort of white upright freezer that is 65″ tall and I will be placing a bookcase on each side with it’s back to the side of the freezer so that they take up less wall space but are still usable.
The side that faces the door from the front room will be used for canisters and bottles and the other side will be for cans.  I want to bw able to use my cupboards to spread out my dishes and cooking gear better.
Because of my weightloss surgery I use quite a bit of protein which I buy in large white plastic canisters.  It is hard to get the labors completely off of the bottles and my theme for the pantry is apothecary style.

So I found this very old fashion white and black self stick shelf liner at the dollar store which I cut to size and wrapped around the canister and printed off some apothecary labels then taped them on.

Now if I wish to change the contents I can put a new label over that one. 

This is just one of my plans for the pantry.

Today’s find, Anthropology bench covers and 33 cent lilies

Me a dumpster diver? You bet ya!
This morning I was looking for moving boxes and drove behind the Anthropology store and saw bench covers sticking out of the garbage.  These are padded tops to benches that are framed on 3 sides and upholstered.  I got 2 of these that were about 6 feet long.  I intend to cover them with clear plastic over some cool material and use them over four 5 gallon bucket shaped hypertufa forms (a kind of lighter weight concrete). 
I will have one by the front door between the house and the garage under the walkway and the other one I will have against the house under the shade sail I want to make in the back of the house.
I also scored a huge box of collapsed boxes from our local costume shop which will really help with packing.
On top of that my mom and I went to Walmart to get a kind of fish food she can’t get at a reasonable price anywhere in town and we decided to check out the garden center, a sales lady mentioned that they were selling there clearence plants at $1 a pot so I bought 5 pots of Asiatic lilies, each of which had 3 plants in them (original price $7 each) and 2 large fancy pots of annuals that I got just for the planters ($19 each originally). I also bought a few plants for my grandmother as well.  The plants are at her house and I hope they survive til Aug when we move.