I started by making plumeria flowers from foamiran I bought from Aliexpress (Link: https://tinyurl.com/y2wpcct9 ) I bought white as I felt it would be the most versatile.
I cut a teardrop shape from foamiran, and then used it as a template, and laid the first teardrop on the foamiran and cut around it. I did this so I’d have five, and cut enough to make three flowers (15 total.)
I used Distress Inks, in Squeezed Lemonade and Mustard Seed link: https://www.joann.com/search?q=distress+inks and applied the inks with a brush I bought from Aliexpress (Link for black brush set and I chose the second set from the top left: https://tinyurl.com/yxl84qwu ) I don’t love these are the necks seem super bendy and I think they’ll break easily. I love the gold colored ones link: https://tinyurl.com/y2nly3ep as the necks are sturdy and are easier to ink…I did a video comparing these and you’ll see that video next.
After coloring the very tips of the teardrops with both inks, I used a ball stylus (link: https://tinyurl.com/yyzmbukj ) with a sponge you’d buy at a hardware store used for grout. ( link: https://tinyurl.com/yy4bsrpp ) Mine is only one-quarter of one of these sponges.
I also used a hair straightener (link:  https://tinyurl.com/y2ykzjdg ) this one is safe, from Walmart, unlike mine) to heat the rounded end of the petals so they bend backward from the middle of the teardrop to the end. (You can use an iron, or your heat gun, but be careful with the heat gun as it’s easy to burn yourself.) Once your petals are all bent, you can use the stylus in the centers to make the petals look more realistic. I also wrapped the petals around a skewer and using my heat gun, warmed the petal to roll them. I hot glued the very tip and one side about 1/4 of the way up the side, and laid the next petal to it...Once all five petals are attached together, put hot glue on the side of one petal and pull the others together and pinch the bottom to make the flower round.
Grand Cabinet die..link: https://tinyurl.com/y2a2pvqp and wedding insert link: https://tinyurl.com/y5kmektb
You’ll need to cut out a front, and back, and four insert pieces from the Grand Cabinet die. The back needs to have the center section left in. If you buy the separate wedding set, I cut it out a couple of times, and used the words and bride/groom separately. You’ll want to cut the little side tabs off of the front and back pieces as you don’t need them.
I cut my front out of very thin glitter paper, so had to add a second layer to it so it would be sturdy. Since the front was glittery, I used silver Gelato on the piece behind it so if you could see it, you’d see silver..I adhered these two pieces with wet glue and let them dry. My back panel and side panels were made out of foil paper and I took the the side panels and put tear tape on the back of the foil paper on both ends (on the edges beside the score lines) You’ll take the tear tape backer off of one side and attach it to the back of the back foil piece (making sure the slots are closer to the bottom than the top when you adhere them) You’ll lay the bottom edge of the side piece so it lines up with the bottom of the back piece and lay the score line of the side piece on the very edge of the back and adhere them. Then take each of your four center pieces and insert one side of the slots into the side panel and pull down so the slots stay in place. I adhered the other side panel and inserted each of the layer tabs into that side. Then bend the front flaps of the side panel so you can glue the front panel to it. I pushed the card flat and put tear tape on the back of the ends of the front panel and adhered the front panel to the side pieces by bending the score lines of the side panels and laying the front panel to both sides.
I glued the leftover glitter center piece into the back and glued the “Happily ever after” piece inside to the back panel, and glued the bride and groom on a closer layer and the plumeria around the sides. The plumeria were too large so I just trimmed down the rounded ends to make them as small as I needed. I would recommend you glue some of these pieces inside before putting the card together, as the card isn’t very large and once your hands are inside, there was no way the viewer could see what I was doing.

Rich belongs to a shooting club (for skeet), and every year, they have a family day, where they invite the community to bring the entire family for walks through the woods, gun instruction and demonstrations, and all monies raised go toward the Boy Scouts and to promote gun safety.  They have a large food concession stand, and that’s the most important area (for me.)  The women make a lot of baked goods and sell them, as well as serving typical “fair foods.”  Hot dogs, hot sausage sandwiches, etc.

My girlfriend works with the hot dogs/hot sausage sandwiches, and that’s where I’ve volunteered the last two years (since Rich has been a member.)  Last year, the women were really leery of the “new girl” and watched me closely, to make sure I wasn’t eating all of the profits…OK, I’m not sure why they watched me, but they did.  This year, apparently I’d passed the test, as they were happy to have me helping, and the woman in charge actually assigned me the task of making sure the hot sausage was kept at the right temperature.

She asked me if I’d helped around food before, and I have, but when she gave me the meat thermometer, she never gave me any instructions, other than how warm the meat needed to be.  Before I could ask her anything, she was gone.

My personal thermometer (that sounds a little bit possessive, but we’ll go with it)  is a pokey metal piece with the gauge, and that’s it.  The one the lady handed me had what looked like a straw where the pointy metal piece would be.  I asked my girlfriend how to use it, and she said, just poke it into the sausage…that didn’t sound right because of the straw surrounding the metal, but I went with it…Of course the temperature was no where near where it was supposed to be, and I kept trying, and getting the same results.  And we were getting chunks of sausage inside the straw, and that also sounded a bit iffy.  Luckily, another lady that volunteers there, walked by and we told her about the problems we were having, and she said “did you take this piece off?”  (as she pulled the straw holder off.)   I sometimes feel pretty dumb, but this was beyond dumb.  I couldn’t believe we were supposed to take the straw-like piece off, and thought my girlfriend had a clue, when clearly, she didn’t….I’m just lucky the woman in charge didn’t see us poking sausages like idiots….or see any of the sausages with big gouges out of them…Do these things only happen to me?  It sometimes feels like they do…

Rich and I went to a movie and out to lunch with friends yesterday.. We saw Hobbs and Shaw, a spin-off of the Fast and Furious movies, with the Rock and Jason Statham.  I’ll say this much,  it was long.  Over two hours and fifteen minutes long…If you read my blog, I’m sure you’ve noticed a trend in the movies we watch.  They’re almost always action or super hero movies, and this one took action to a whole new level.  It wasn’t enough that they drove vehicles through buildings, they had to include a whole action sequence in Samoa using ancient weaponry, (mainly clubs and carved knives.)  My favorite part of the movie was when the Rock was trying to keep a helicopter attached to a tow truck, and the chain slipped off, so he “single handedly” held onto the chain, thus pulling the moving helicopter close enough to re-attach the chain..Possible?  Seriously?  They may have lost me then, or it might have been an earlier action sequence, when he stuck his arm out the window of the vehicle he was driving, and knocked a man off his motorcycle driving toward him by straight arming him…I’m pretty sure the force would have ripped his arm off, but then again, I don’t make movies, so clearly have no idea what I’m talking about.  I think they are trying too hard to take action movies to a whole new level of unbelievable, and unfortunately for me, it was just unbelievable.  Maybe they should step back and think about the feasibility of some of these stunts before making them with CGI…They’re so ridiculous, I just shake my head.  Of course Rich and the other man we see movies with, thought the action scenes were great….but thankfully they did agree the movie was super long….although not as long as the movie we saw last week with Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt…Those are three hours I’ll never get back.  I’ve heard they might be nominating one of them for an Academy Award for that movie…Can you win an Oscar for the world’s worst movie if your acting is good?  Seems like that’s almost cheating.

Today I went to garage sales with my girlfriend and her grandson, whose thirteen.  I give the kid credit,  he really stuck it out.  I think at fourteen, I would have thrown in the towel when we went to the first estate sale in a house that hadn’t been aired out in a few decades.  He kept asking “what’s that smell?”  We didn’t answer because we weren’t really sure….and that’s pretty gross.  We made a fast exit but the smell seemed to remain in our noses….Yuck.

This afternoon, Rich and I went to a car show they have in our downtown area once a year.  I thought it was running later in the afternoon, and by the time we got there, maybe ten cars were left.  But luckily, the food vendors were still there, so we bought a lot of “fair food” (french fries, wings, etc) and it was really tasty.  Probably not good for us, but it was worth it.  And you don’t really need to see a bunch of old cars is your stomach is full…you really just want to take a nap instead…So that’s what I’ll be doing next.

 

We went out to lunch and to a movie, Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”  For those of you who’ve seen the trailer, the movie appears to be about an action star, Leonardo DiCaprio, and his stunt double, Brad Pitt.  If you plan on going to see this movie, let me help you out and tell you, just don’t.  It’s three hours, and those are three hours you’ll never get back.  Most of the movie is about DiCaprio feeling like he’s not getting the roles he deserves, and how his career, and ultimately, Brad Pitt’s, is failing.  But then Tarantino felt like he needed a twist of some kind, so inserted Sharon Tate…..and her pregnancy, and the Manson family, without Charlie…

For those of you who are too young to remember this, Sharon Tate, while pregnant, was murdered by the Manson family..

Luckily, in this revised version of history, the Manson family went to Sharon Tate’s next door neighbor’s house, DiCaprio’s, where the only ten minutes of the movie worth watching took place…when Brad Pitt and his pit bull eliminated all of them, with a little help from DiCaprio.  You might be thinking this would be worth watching, and it is, but the rest of the movie is so bad, I’d try to find this clip on the internet and watch it and be done with it.

I wouldn’t even recommend you watching it on RedBox, if you have those where you are…as $1.99 is more than you’ll want to pay to watch this.  I can normally handle a boring movie, but this went beyond boring….I fell asleep twice, and Rich leaned over to me fifteen minutes in, and said, if we were at home, I’d be changing the channel…I think that best sums up the experience.

 

There is a 10% discount using the coupon code CraftingForAlmostEveryone3, which is valid until Aug 10th

Site Links:
USA: http://arteza.com/?_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone
Eu: https://arteza.co.uk/?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone

Sketch TwiMarkers, Dual Tipped – Set of 48:
(US): https://arteza.com/products/twimarkers-set-of-48-colors-dual-tip?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=e014a345

(EU): https://arteza.co.uk/collections/markers/products/sketch-twimarkers-set-of-48-colors-dual-tips?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=43cec569

Watercolor Paint – 60 Colors (60 x 12ml/0.4 US fl oz):
(US):https://arteza.com/collections/paint/products/watercolor-paint-set-of-60-colors-x-12-ml?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=4efa7bfa

(EU): https://arteza.co.uk/products/arteza-watercolor-paint-set-of-60-colors-tubes-12-ml-0-4-us-fl-oz-with-storage-box-rich-pigments-vibrant-non-toxic-paints-for-the-artist-hobby-painters-ideal-for-watercolor-techniques?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=7c5e00ef

Expert Watercolor Pad 5.5×8.5” 30 Sheets – Pack of 3:
(US): https://arteza.com/products/expert-watercolor-pad-5-5×8-5-30-sheets-pack-of-3?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=0deabed2

I used a digital stamp from Sparkle n’ Sprinkle called Hog Heaven
link: https://tinyurl.com/y32yn7ps …I printed the black and white image on cardstock, and then using my printer, reduced the size to 80% of it’s normal size to ensure it would fit on a 5 x 7″ card. I used regular cardstock and worried because it was inexpensive Georgia Pacific 110 pound cardstock from Walmart…and I was concerned that the paper would break down when I used so much water based marker on it. I colored with a few pinks and blended them together. I couldn’t believe how well they worked on the pig….and then I used two purples on the flowers and they blended well….I was pleasantly surprised that the markers worked as well as they did, both in coloring, and in not destroying the paper. After coloring the pig, I cut out the image and used a black Sharpie to color the paper edges…I used a piece of fun foam for on the back of the pig, so it wouldn’t waffle on the card when going through the mail. I added tear tape (that I buy from craftchameleon.com) and attached the foam to the back of the pig with it….I had cut out the sentiment with dies, then decided the word Sow was too large for the front, and decided to cut the letters out by hand. To attach it to the card, I used my Xyron machine and used an adhesive eraser to take off any excess glue before removing the word from the backing paper. I laid it on the front of the card on an angle, and added Judikins Diamond Glaze over it to create a 3d look to it.
I used tear tape on the back of the other words and attached them to the inside of the 5 x 7″ card.
I wanted to add Stickles to make the card more frisky, so added purple and yellow to the flowers, and pink over the pig, then used an aqua color over the rest of the front of the card so it looked like the pig was floating on water..I use my finger to spread Stickles when I want it to be flat like on the pig..If you use Stickles, when you are finished, wipe off the top and tap the bottle on your desk and squeeze the bottle a little bit and suck air back into the bottle so the Stickles doesn’t clog the top….
I have a personalized stamp that was made by Stampanda.com and used a coupon from groupon to get a big discount…the name of the stamp was Molly, and I just changed the words to “Made with love by Sandy Parker.”
I added a peg stamp “doggie running happy” to the envelope…link:
https://tinyurl.com/y334rtg7

 

I’ve had so much fun this weekend. On Friday, my girlfriend and I went to garage sales, and normally, I’ll come home with two stuffed animals for the dogs and maybe one or two other things….And once a year, we’ll go to a sale where I’ll find so many things, I call it the best sale of the year….Friday wasn’t just one great sale, there were three or four, and I found so many fun and unusual things, I just don’t know where to start…I didn’t buy many crafty items, but did find a lot of useful household things, and decorative items for my nephew’s wedding…200 more white Christmas lights, still new in the box, and books….lots of books..Patterson, Sandford, Crais…all my favorites.  At one sale, I found a copper and brass weathervane with a rifle on top for our close friend whose an avid gun enthusiast…I called him, sent him photos of it, and he decided to make the owner an offer, and on Saturday morning, we got a call that the offer had been accepted.  He is thrilled.

Saturday we paid for the weathervane and then went to Ashtabula, Ohio, to visit our close friends at their beach house, and then went into Historic Ashtabula for a Wine and Walleye festival….we basically walked around, buying a trinket for the bride to be, and some dog bandanas from their animal rescue league.  It was so hot, the sweat was pouring off my neck.  It was so bad, our friends gave me a towel to wipe my head with….now if that’s not sweaty, nothing is….I never used to get crazy sweaty, but once I hit menopause, it was all over for me.  And the thing I think is really unfair, is that I don’t lose about twenty pounds when I sweat like that.  I honestly don’t think people wanted me at their booths because I was really gross.  My hair was adhered to my head like a downpour had hit and I didn’t have time to dry myself…..Nope that’s just sweat…gross..

Today, I decided to work on wedding things, as my sister isn’t physically well enough to do much and I’ve offered to do as much as possible, so our nephew has the best wedding experience possible.  I don’t know if I’m helping or hurting, but I’m doing my best to do something…Rich just left for basketball, so I think I’ll go into the craft room to finish an art journal page I’ve been working on, and to start playing with some jewelry I wanted to make..I guess you’ll need to wait and see if I actually do anything, or if I decide I’d be better off taking a short nap or watching television..I’m not really motivated when the temperature outside is over 80 degrees…I know, I’m whimpy…

You’ll receive a 10% discount if you purchase these watercolors from Arteza…The coupon code is CraftingForAlmostEveryone3, which is valid until Aug 10th, 2019.

General links to the Arteza sites:
(US): http://arteza.com/?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone
(EU): https://arteza.co.uk/?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone

Links to the products:
1) Sketch TwiMarkers, Dual Tipped – Set of 48:
(US): https://arteza.com/products/twimarkers-set-of-48-colors-dual-tip?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=e014a345

(EU): https://arteza.co.uk/collections/markers/products/sketch-twimarkers-set-of-48-colors-dual-tips?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=43cec569

2) Watercolor Paint – 60 Colors (60 x 12ml/0.4 US fl oz):
(US):https://arteza.com/collections/paint/products/watercolor-paint-set-of-60-colors-x-12-ml?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=4efa7bfa

(EU): https://arteza.co.uk/products/arteza-watercolor-paint-set-of-60-colors-tubes-12-ml-0-4-us-fl-oz-with-storage-box-rich-pigments-vibrant-non-toxic-paints-for-the-artist-hobby-painters-ideal-for-watercolor-techniques?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=7c5e00ef

3) Expert Watercolor Pad 5.5×8.5” 30 Sheets – Pack of 3:
(US): https://arteza.com/products/expert-watercolor-pad-5-5×8-5-30-sheets-pack-of-3?a_aid=Youtube_CraftingForAlmostEveryone&a_bid=0deabed2

I bought two jewelry storage containers from Joann Fabrics..here’s the link to them: https://tinyurl.com/y6felrjj Each has twenty-one compartments, plus a longer compartment in the second row. I decided to buy two sets of twenty empty full-size pans from Aliexpress to fill the second row with eight more colors, bringing my total to 56 colors once full. Link for empty pans: https://tinyurl.com/y299bjcr

I also bought a toothpaste squeezer to make sure the tubes were empty from Ebay..link: https://tinyurl.com/y3jfwoza

I wasn’t sure how to do this, so contacted Lindsay the frugal crafter, who advised me to add glycerin or honey to each paint, to ensure they don’t crack and fall out of the plastic container.  She said to use a few drops, but it seemed when Rich added a lot more than I did, that his paints seem to be less cracked than the ones I did..

To begin the process, I pulled out all of the tubes of paints, and attempted to put them in a rainbow order, making sure with each color that I started with the lightest shade and ended with the darkest.

I knew I’d need to swatch the colors, so took a piece of the watercolor paper pad from Arteza, and drew grids that corresponded with the actual container I was using, and started with reds and oranges in the front, and worked my way to the back of the first container, writing the name and Arteza number for each color below (or beside) the section on the watercolor paper pad.  After all colors were swatched, I ran it through my Xyron machine link: https://tinyurl.com/yytd6kb9 to create a sticker and adhered it to the inside of the lid.

After the colors were labelled, I was able to start decanting the tubes into the plastic containers, by first squeezing an inch or so of paint into the compartment I wanted it in, then using the toothpaste tube squeezer, and inserting the very end of the tube into it, and turning the crank away from myself, emptying the tube directly over the compartment it was intended to fill. I then took a paintbrush, wet it, and took whatever remaining color I could from the tube opening, and used this to swatch on the color chart I’d created. I did this one row (of the container) at a time, and then added at least 12-18 drops of glycerin into the paint and stirred it really well with a wood skewer. Once I felt the paint and glycerin were well combined, I went onto the next tube and repeated the process.
When I filled the full-size pans, I only added 6 drops of glycerin into the paint.. My goal (when I receive the second set of empty full-size pans, is to glue the empty one to the full one so it raises the pan to the same height as the rest of the container. I think this will make them easier to use.

Once the container is full of paint, make sure to leave the lid open until the paints are completely dry, or they tend to mold.  

I haven’t been sleeping well, as my mind doesn’t seem to want to shut down, so have been busy buying things for my nephew’s wedding in September.  I can’t tell you how excited both Rich and I are for the big day, and the closer it gets, the more ideas I get..

My latest idea I probably already talked about..I’m going to make a personalized memory box frame and inside will be seashells, and sand, and now, the newest plan, is to add corked bottles with guests wishes for the couple inside the bottles..

I had to really think this through, because once you put a slip of paper in a small bottle, how do you get it back out without breaking it?  So I bought bottles with a larger opening, and a quilling tool that will roll the papers into a thin circle, to allow it to be retrieved.  But then I started thinking about the guests having to write on the slips of paper, and how would I handle the pen situation….So I went on Aliexpress and was able to buy fifty (the number of guests) personalized metal pens with felt cases to slip them into, for under $30….I thought it was a bargain….and I could get them in the color metal I wanted with the font I wanted.   I decided I’d leave the pens inside the case with a long strip of paper that I’ll stamp hearts or something aquarium themed on the end, and add instructions to the front of the pen case on what they were supposed to do…Keep the pen, but not the bottle….Put the wish into the bottle and cork it, then take the bottle and place it in the basket that’s on the guest book table….something like that…If you can think of another way to explain things to the guests, I’d appreciate it, given that they aren’t have a band or DJ to make announcements….and since there are only fifty people (including the wedding party), it shouldn’t be really complicated, but Rich is looking for me to help him with the photography….We thought one of their friends was going to take photos with Rich, but she’s a bridesmaid and it won’t work for her to be in two places at once, and Rich wants to be his own boss for the event, and that means I’ll be his labor force…he chose badly with that one…I can’t even carry his camera, it’s so heavy…

My nephew is excited about the idea and he gave me input for the personalization.  I hope the pen is a nice keepsake for the wedding guests…..Let’s cross our fingers on it, and I’ll be sure to include a photo of one when I get them…..Yay!  This is so exciting….

Oh, and one last thing, the bride wants a photo of their (very small) dog Oliver, with them in their wedding clothes, so I bought a tiny matching bow tie for it.OK, a few, because they were under a dollar and I didn’t know what color they’d want him to wear….And now all we have to do is work out the logistics of getting them and their dog in the same space, as the dog isn’t allowed in the aquarium….

 

I mailed the cards I mentioned yesterday….and feel so good about myself.  I think I sent twelve cards, and probably owed a few more.  (I really hope I didn’t forget to send some…I probably did…and that will make me fret, and I hate to fret….but do it anyway..)

My college roommate and I talked on the phone last night.  We try to talk a few times a year, as she lives in Atlanta,  and see each other at least once a year.  We met our freshman year when we both had other roommates and connected right away.  There is something so easy about talking to her, and I’m glad we’ve never lost that.  She said she was talking to one of our friends, and they told her about my YouTube channel.  I thought we’d talked about it before, but she said we hadn’t…She said she watched some of my videos and she really enjoyed them.  I’m not good at taking compliments (and she knows that), and she said, “Just take the compliment.”  I love that she knows me that well…that’s 42 years of friendship for you..

After dropping off the mail, Rich and I went to Joann’s, (he stayed in the car), and I found some raw wood birdhouses that were kind of ugly, shaped like an arrow (weird) or a cup of coffee (even more odd), and I decided Rich could just take his saw and trim the arrow to a rectangle shape, and that would be a lot easier for me to cover with whatever, paint, napkins, etc.  I bought two of them and will refinish one off camera and one on-camera.

And then I saw small apothecary bottles made by Tim Holtz that gave me another idea for our nephew’s wedding.  I was thinking if I bought small bottles with corks, not the ones I mentioned, as they are an amber color….that I could have people write a wish for the bride and groom and then I’d put the wishes into the shadow box frame I’m having made for them with some sand and sea shells, since they’re getting married in an aquarium.  I thought it would be sweet and I hope they think so too… My girlfriend collects sea glass, and I thought I’d put a few tiny pieces in each bottle.  I found the bottles on Amazon for under $10 for 36 of them….the wedding is small, only fifty people coming, so 36 should be more than enough, as I doubt both a husband and wife would want to make their own individual wish…and if they do, they can put both in the same bottle…I’m buying a quilling tool, so the bride and groom can stick the tool into the top of the bottle and attach it to the paper, spin it, and easily remove the paper from the bottle….Thought of that all by myself, aren’t you surprised?

 

I decided today is the day for me to send all of the cards that I’ve been promising people, as I’m great a making the cards but terrible at actually mailing them.  I wrote several cards then decided I also needed to mail my brother-in-law a thank you card and a little job…(I’m thanking him advance for the job I’m giving him…hahaha)   My sister’s son is getting married in September, and I wanted to make a family recipe book for him.  I did call my brother-in-law and ask if he would participate, as my sister has diabetes, and her hands are too shaky to write much now..  Here’s the book I chose, and it was half off at Hobby Lobby, and it’s full of cards…I bought an extra pack to send my brother-in-law..I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to get them.

I talked to the bride, who doesn’t think her family would have any recipes, and that made me even more committed to giving them the recipes that got me through working full-time since both the bride and groom work full time…I’m not a gourmet chef, but I’m a pretty serious “meat and potato” cook…Both of my grandmothers made the best meals, and my mother was a terrific cook as well.  She was committed to sticking to the diabetic diet in our house, so my sister never had to watch us eat things she couldn’t.  I am absolutely sure that the reason my sister is still alive after 57 years with type 1 diabetes, is that my mother fed her as if her life depended on it, and it did.

As for learning to cook, I learned a lot from observation, and went from there.  The one thing that helped me when I was working, was making bigger meals on the weekends, so we’d have a leftover meal or two during the week…and the other meals were whatever we found that we could make and eat standing over the sink…Oh yeah, bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?  I worked forty hours and most of my branches were at least a half-hour drive, so at least 45 hours a week..  Today I couldn’t tell you how I did that, plus laundry, groceries, cooking etc., but somehow I did.  I know Rich helped a lot, and never complained about it–he’s always been a trooper.

The one product I couldn’t live without while working, was the Crock-Pot.  I know a lot of people have the Insta-Pot, and I don’t know if it has a slow cook feature, but I loved throwing frozen meat with broth in the Crock Pot before leaving for work, and coming home to a house that smelled like dinner….from there, it was so simple to add a side dish…don’t knock Instant Potatoes until you’ve tried them…Those little bags of instant potatoes were great with anything that came out of the Crock-Pot.  And there’s nothing better than coming home from work and knowing that dinner is almost ready.

As I said, I don’t know if the Insta-Pot has a slow cook setting, but I would never have been able to wait another 40 minutes for dinner, without eating chips and/or cookies, so the Crock Pot was my answer for everything.

I don’t know how I got off on this tangent, but the bottom line is, I’m going to share my favorite recipes (and Rich’s dad’s recipes) with our nephew and his bride, and hope they find some quick and easy recipes that help them eat at home, eat healthier, and save a ton of money instead of eating out…